Hungarian Family Research Articles

A készülő Dunántúli történeti családnévtárról

This paper aims to present the Database of the Historical Surnames of Transdanubia in its current state. This database showcases new, innovative trends in onomastics that ensure the versatile, interdisciplinary usability of linguistic resources. The database is designed to facilitate the geographical and typological analysis of the family names of the Carpathian Basin in the second half of the eighteenth century, with a particular emphasis on functional-motivationalaspects. It also aims to explore the linguistic and onomastic consequences of the great migration waves of that century. The data originate from the name tables of the 1767-1774 tax unification of Maria Theresa and complement the material of the Atlas of Historical Surnames of Hungary, which shows the situation before the migration processes with data from the beginning of the century. The second half of the paper presents an analysis of the Hungarian and German family name data from Győr County in the Database of the Historical Surnames of Transdanubia and of the entire Hungarian family name data and the German family name data from the Transylvanian Saxon territories in the Atlas of Historical Surnames of Hungary. This analysis reveals the similarities and differences between the name stocks, emphasising routinised name patterns and their socio-cultural and historical background.

Krumelurer med svag ställning

This paper presents a quantitative study of the registration of diacritics in Hungarian, Spanish, Vietnamese and Turkish family names in the official Swedish population records. Out of the examined diacritics, vowels with accents and the Turkish letter <ç> are registered in up to 21 % of the cases, whereas the Turkish letter <ü> is registered in over 90 % of the occurrences. Parts of a bigger interview study is also presented, where informants share their views of diacritics in the Swedish population records.

“An Era More than Bleak”

AbstractFerenc Farkas, a remarkable twentieth-century Hungarian composer, was one of the most influential professors of composition throughout the history of the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest. A less known chapter of his life is his involvement in the ethnicist and anti-Semitic political movements of Hungary, during the late 1930s and early 1940s. In 1940, he was among three musicians who elaborated a proposal to establish, in line with the rise of corporatism, a Hungarian Music Chamber. One of the main aims of the new organization would have been a total exclusion of Jewish musicians from all branches of Hungarian musical culture. The Chamber was never actually founded. In 1941, Farkas left Budapest for the Transylvanian city Kolozsvár (Cluj), where he was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatory. One of his first students was György Ligeti, a native Transylvanian, born into a Hungarian family suffering under the anti-Semitic legislation of the Hungarian state. As Ligeti recollected, Farkas “wanted to teach me everything he had learned from his teacher Ottorino Respighi.” Based on archival sources, this study offers new insights into the personal and professional connection between Ligeti and Farkas during the 1940s, and also follows Farkas's post-war path from relative isolation and marginalization to the elite of state socialist music culture.

Parental Agreements on Children’s Parental Custody, Contact and Child Maintenance – High Requirements and Strict Standards versus the Child’s Interests

The aim of the paper is to analyse the Hungarian family law rules regarding parental agreements on children’s parental custody, contact and child maintenance, including their high legal and judicial requirements and strict standards. Parents are regularly supported to agree on issues concerning their children in cases when they no longer live together, as this corresponds to the principle of autonomy. However, they must enter into agreements that meet the requirements of the child’s best interests regardless of whether they lived in marriage or de facto cohabitation. The agreements must serve the interests of the partners and those of the child but not only at the time of concluding the agreement but also later. The question emerges of how either partner may request the agreement to be modified if the parents cannot agree new terms. Several aspects of the regulation, such as the judiciary, need to be considered and envisaged to evaluate the legal environment of parental agreements. This investigation is validated by the fact that it is not only the parents’ but also the state’s task to support the conclusion of agreements that protect the parties and their child’s interests and, if necessary, make the amendment of agreements possible.

Phenotypic and Genotypic Features of the FAN1 Mutation-Related Disease in a Large Hungarian Family.

Pathogenic variants in the FAN1 gene lead to a systemic disease with karyomegalic interstitial nephritis (KIN) at the forefront clinically. The phenotypic-genotypic features of a FAN1 mutation-related disease involving five members of a Hungarian Caucasian family are presented. Each had adult-onset chronic kidney disease of unknown cause treated with renal replacement therapy and elevated liver enzymes. Short stature, emaciation, latte-colored skin, freckles, and a hawk-like nose in four patients, a limited intellect in two patients, and chronic restrictive lung disease in one patient completed the phenotype. Severe infections occurred in four patients. All five patients had ceased. Four patients underwent autopsy. KIN and extrarenal karyomegaly were observed histologically; the livers showed no specific abnormality. The genotyping using formalin-fixed tissue samples detected a hitherto undescribed homozygous FAN1 mutation (c.1673_1674insT/p.Met558lfs*4; exon 5) in three of these patients and a heterozygous FAN1 mutation in one patient. The reason for the heterozygosity is discussed. In addition, 56 family members consented to the screening for FAN1 mutation from which 17 individuals proved to be heterozygous carriers; a blood chemistry evaluation of their kidney and liver function did not find any abnormality. The clinical presentation of FAN1-related disease was multifaceted, and not yet described manifestations were observed besides kidney and liver disease. Mutation in this gene should be suspected in adults with small kidneys of unknown cause, elevated liver enzymes, and recurrent infections, even without a family history.

Frequency of office blood pressure measurements and the seasonal variability of blood pressure: results of the Hungarian Hypertension Registry

Purpose Hypertension is a major public health problem, thus, its timely and appropriate diagnosis and management are crucial for reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The aim of the new Hungarian Hypertension Registry is to evaluate the blood pressure measurement practices of general practitioners (GPs), internists and cardiologists in outpatient clinics, as well as to assess the seasonal variability of blood pressure. Materials and methods Omron M3 IT devices were used during four-month periods between October 2018 and April 2023 in GP practices and in hypertension clinics. The blood pressure data were then transmitted online from the monitors’ cuffs to a central database using the Medistance system of Omron. Results Family physicians (n = 2491), and internists/cardiologists (n = 477) participated in the study. A total of 4804 821 blood pressure measurements were taken during 10 four-month evaluation periods. In the ten periods, the daily average number of measurements was between 3.0 and 5.6. Following ESH diagnostic criteria, the proportion of subjects in optimal, normal and high-normal blood pressure categories were 14, 13.4 and 16.7%, respectively. Altogether 56% of the measurements belonged to stage 1, stage 2 or stage 3 hypertension categories (31.6, 17.1 and 7.4%, respectively). On average, a difference of 5/2 mmHg was observed between winter and summer data in systolic and diastolic blood pressures, respectively. The average systolic blood pressure values were higher in GP practices with more than 2000 patients than in the ones with less than 1500 patients (141.86 mmHg versus 140.02 mmHg, p < 0.05). Conclusion In conclusion, the low daily average number of blood pressure measurements indicates a limited blood pressure screening awareness/capacity in the case of Hungarian family physicians. In GP practices with more patients, blood pressure is usually less well-controlled. These results suggest that the further promotion of home blood pressure monitoring is necessary.

A Hungarian Old China Hand and the End of Empire: Loyalty Struggles in Interwar Shanghai's Migrant Community

AbstractThis article explores the consequences of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's end through the tumultuous biography of a philanthropic entrepreneur and quasi-consul community leader known today for assisting thousands of Jewish refugees during World War II. Focusing on Paul Komor (1886–1973) and the migrant community of Shanghai Hungarians, the article contends that postimperial diasporas preserved a piece of empire in their commitment to Jewish emancipation, imperialist nationalism, multiple loyalties, and political nostalgia. It also argues that diasporic networks and charitable actions communicated political and national loyalties while creating and defining the boundaries of the community. Presenting original research involving sources in multiple languages from China, Hungary, the U.S., the U.K., and the Netherlands, the article traces the fortunes of a Jewish Hungarian family in colonial Shanghai, shows the limits of its son's charity-rooted advancement in community leadership, sheds light on the seemingly contradictory political ideas of a postimperial expatriate to explain his complicated relationship with his kinstate, and analyzes the institutionalization of communal charity and the competing prerequisite definitions of postimperial national belonging.

When people still had enough time to live

AbstractIn this paper the author want to focus especially on the education of girls from Hungarian aristocratic families by studying not only the relationship between the parents and the children but also the aim, content, methods of education. The sources were primarily the memoirs that have been more frequently published, that resulted in more detailed, subtle conclusions complete with personal motivations as well. The research method was narrative text analysis. The author concluded that there were practically only some aristocratic girls who had enrolled a secondary school before WW1. After WW1 there were more and more girls taking part in school education, the reason being their financial circumstances and the changed social and cultural situation. Some have already enrolled in university or obtained a vocational qualification. However, working women were very rare among them. The relationship between the parents and children was different by families, but the strict distance increasingly loosened up. One of the most important goal of education was the knowledge of modern languages. Besides practising religion and arts physical education and sports were present in the lives of the girls in the country. Girls could only move around in their own social groups, they put special emphasis on developing social competences. A girl's goal was to find a spouse who is worthy of her rank.

Carol Király (1930-2021)

Carol Király (Király Károly) was born on 26 September 1930 in Târnăveni, Mureș County, into a Hungarian family. He attended four primary classes between 1939 and 1943, after which he worked as a construction worker in various construction sites in Luduș, Cluj region. In April 1946, Carol Király volunteered at the Salva-Vișeu construction site, and in 1949, he went to the Danube-Black Sea Canal construction site, where he also worked as a carpenter. He attended evening party courses. In October 1954, he was accepted as a member of the Communist Party, but remained a U.T.M. activist. In September 1956, he was sent to attend the Central School of the Moscow Comsomol for a year. After graduation in August 1957, he was appointed first secretary of the regional U.T.M. committee of the Hungarian Autonomous Region. His real rise began after Nicolae Ceausescu came to power. He became a member of the Council of State and afterwards member of the CC of the Communist Party of Romania and substitute member of the Executive Committee. On 1 April 1972 he sent a letter to the party leadership announcing that he was resigning as First Secretary of Covasna County and alternate member of the Executive Committee. In 1973, he was appointed president of the Union of Craft Cooperatives in Mureș County. In 1975 he ceased to be a member of the State Council. In the late 1970s and 1980s, he was an exponent of the rights of the Hungarian minority in Romania, publicly denouncing their violation through open letters to the state leadership, interviews and material published abroad. In the context of the 1989 revolution, Carol Kiraly was co-opted into the country’s new leadership. He died on 4 November 2021.

The Divorce Mill: Mercenary Citizenship in the Twilight of the Habsburg Empire

This article analyses how wealthy men and women manipulated citizenship regimes during and after the Habsburg Empire to access the family laws most convenient for their private lives. To do this, I compare migratory divorce practices in pre-1918 Habsburg Hungary and the post-1918 Free State of Fiume. This article shows that while before 1918 it was mercenary actors who utilised legal loopholes between Austrian and Hungarian family laws and citizenship regulations to obtain divorces for the rich, after 1918 it was the impoverished, globally-isolated, mercenary postimperial state that procured the means for rich clients to buy their way out of their own state's family laws, raising questions about the relationship between the early twentieth-century postimperial world of globally dependent European successor states with today's postcolonial ‘golden passport’ system.

Towards an emotive-relational model of FLP: mapping the connections between family language policy and parental wellbeing

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the emotive-relational dimensions of family language policy (FLP), in the context of Hungarian families in Australia. The study explored parental experiences of family language policy implementation efforts and challenges. The research used an online survey (N = 80) which collected quantitative and qualitative data. Survey data were analysed using SPSS software to generate descriptive and t-test statistics. The results demonstrate that parents experienced emotional challenges around all three elements of family language policies: (i) ideologies; (ii) language practices and (iii) language management. This paper identifies six main emotive-relational dimensions of FLP: (i) linguistic-ideological, (ii) discursive; (iii) personal/relational; (iv) socio-relational; (v) agentive and (vi) pragmatic. The methods and the results of this study can be useful for researchers investigating the interconnectedness of language maintenance and parental subjective wellbeing. The findings inform current theoretical models and methods of researching family language policy and its complex dimensions. This paper concludes with an empirically tested emotive-relational model of FLP, which informs future research directed at exploring the emotional aspects of FLP from parents’ point of view as language planners.

A novel de novo truncating variant in a Hungarian patient with CTNNB1 neurodevelopmental disorder

PurposeWe aimed to elucidate the underlying disease in a Hungarian family, with only one affected family member, a 16-year-old male Hungarian patient, who developed global developmental delay, cognitive impairment, behavioral problems, short stature, intermittent headaches, recurrent dizziness, strabismus, hypermetropia, complex movement disorder and partial pituitary dysfunction. After years of detailed clinical investigations and careful pediatric care, the exact diagnosis of the patient and the cause of the disease was still unknown.MethodsWe aimed to perform whole exome sequencing (WES) in order to investigate whether the affected patient is suffering from a rare monogenic disease.ResultsUsing WES, we identified a novel, de novo frameshift variant (c.1902dupG, p.Ala636SerfsTer12) of the catenin beta-1 (CTNNB1) gene. Assessment of the novel CTNNB1 variant suggested that it is a likely pathogenic one and raised the diagnosis of CTNNB1 neurodevelopmental disorder (OMIM 615,075).ConclusionsOur manuscript may contribute to the better understanding of the genetic background of the recently discovered CTNNB1 neurodevelopmental disorder and raise awareness among clinicians and geneticists. The affected Hungarian family demonstrates that based on the results of the clinical workup is difficult to establish the diagnosis and high-throughput genetic screening may help to solve these complex cases.

A vasárnapi ebédtől a szavazóurnáig

Political socialisation is the process of forming an individual’s political identity, in the course of which the individual’s attitude to politics and political worldview is formed. Political socialisation takes place in different spheres, of which the family and parents are of particular importance. Previous research in Hungary has confirmed that the family is an “incubator” of citizenship. However, there is little data available in Hungary that would allow for a more precise understanding of the transmission of political attitudes. This study investigates political homophily within the family (between parent and child) and the effects of parental political characteristics on the individual in Hungary. Our data are drawn from a nationally representative telephone survey of 2000 respondents sampled in 2023. The results show that in nearly two-thirds of Hungarian families, family members held the same political views during the respondent’s childhood, with the highest proportions of homophily indicators, fathers’ and respondents’ voting activity, and mothers’ and respondents’ conservative-liberal attitudes. The effect of parental characteristics was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). Parents’ political interests and ideological positions had a strong direct effect on the same child characteristics, but the individual’s political participation and party preference were only indirectly influenced by parents. The success of attitudinal transmission was strongly enhanced if the parents were themselves, homophiles, along with the trait in question. Our results point to the important role of the family as a primary agent in political socialisation and suggest new research directions.

The redistributive effect of the Hungarian flat tax and family allowance system

AbstractThe study examines the income redistribution effects of the Hungarian flat-tax and the recently introduced family allowance scheme. They were done on the basis of people's individual data for 2007, 2011 and 2020, which yields more accurate estimates than the previous studies based on aggregate or survey data. Between 2011 and 2013, progressive taxation was abolished, and a flat income tax was introduced, along with a substantial widening of pre-existing family tax allowances. We find that the tax reform has favoured high-income earners and taxpayers with children, while the main losers were low-income and/or childless workers. While the share of family tax allowances is somewhat lower for the high-income deciles, this effect is in practice negligible, therefore the income tax system can still be considered flat. The family tax allowance scheme favours wealthy families with many children over low-income families with fewer or no children. The biggest winners of the scheme are the taxpayers in the top income decile with three or more children: these 22,000 taxpayers (that is, 2% of all recipients) receive 10% of the total amount of the family tax allowance, and almost a third of the credit allocated to families with three or more children.

Covid Crisis Experiences of Hungarian Small Family Farms Engaged in Multifunctional Agriculture

Abstract The paper presents the experiences and survival strategies of small family businesses engaged in multifunctional agricultural activities in Hungary during the COVID crisis. The following topics were examined: human resources, supplier-customer relations, production and sales, distribution channels, inputs and outputs prices, strategies and business models, and subsidies in agricultural sectors combined with financial assistance. The study was conducted using a qualitative research methodology, with the help of structured in-depth interviews made with 22 small family businesses. The results show that multifunctional family businesses performed well. The health consequences and the measures taken by the government caused disruption but did not completely hinder the operation of businesses.

Relationship between different resource and capability configurations and competitiveness – comparative study of Hungarian family and nonfamily firms

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify different types of resource and capability configurations among Hungarian family and nonfamily firms and explore which compositions can be considered competitive. In a rivalrous, dynamic world, understanding which sets of resources and capabilities lead to a higher level of competitiveness is vital.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on a quantitative competitiveness survey carried out between November 2018 and July 2019 in Hungary. The authors used the Firm Competitiveness Index (FCI) to measure competitiveness and the resource-based view (RBV) approach to understand which configurations of resources and capabilities are responsible for a higher level of competitiveness based on 32 variables. An exploratory factor and cluster analysis were conducted to analyze the ownership's effect on firm competitiveness. The final sample size contained 111 companies, of which 53 were identified as family and 58 as nonfamily firms.FindingsFactor analysis reveals five factors determining resources and capabilities: “operational,” “leadership,” “knowledge management,” “transformation” and “networking.” Based on these factors, the cluster analysis identified five groups in terms of types of family and nonfamily firms: “Lagging capabilities,” “Knowledge-based leadership,” “Innovativeness and transformation-oriented management,” “Relationship-oriented management” and “Business operation-oriented management.” Results show that nonfamily businesses focus on operational and leadership capabilities, reaching a higher FCI than family businesses, which are likely to invest more in their networking, transformation and knowledge management capabilities.Originality/valueBy defining the different configurations family and nonfamily firms rely on to reach competitiveness, the paper applies an essential element to the Hungarian and Middle Eastern European contexts of family business research. The findings contribute to developing family business literature and point out specific resources and capabilities family firms should focus on to shift toward reaching a higher level of professionalization and competitiveness. The characterization of different types of competitiveness comparing family and nonfamily firms enables the firms to assess customized implications.

Whole-Exome Sequencing Identified Two Novel Pathogenic Mutations in the PTCH1 Gene in BCNS.

Basal cell nevus syndrome (BCNS, OMIM 109400) is a familial cancer syndrome characterized by the development of numerous basal cell cancers and various other developmental abnormalities, including epidermal cysts of the skin, calcified dural folds, keratocysts of the jaw, palmar and plantar pits, ovarian fibromas, medulloblastomas, lymphomesenteric cysts, and fetal rhabdomyomas. BCNS shows autosomal dominant inheritance and is caused by mutations in the patched 1 (PTCH1) gene and the suppressor of the fused homolog (SUFU) gene. In a few cases, variants of patched 2 (PTCH2) have been found in patients who met the criteria for BCNS. In an investigation of 11 Hungarian families who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for BCNS, whole-exome sequencing (WES) and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) identified two novel pathogenic variants (c.2994C>A; p.Cys998Ter and c.814_818del; p.Asn272SerfsTer11), one recently identified variant (c.1737_1745del p.Val580_Val582del), and three recurrent disease-causing variants of the PTCH1 gene with a diagnosis rate of 63.6%. Disease-causing variants were not found for the SUFU and PTCH2 genes. These applied methods could not fully elucidate the genetic background of all the BCNS cases that we investigated. To uncover the missing heritability of BCNS, whole-genome sequencing or an epigenetic approach might be considered in the future.

Family Ties from the Perspective of Property Division Deeds

The basic unit of Hungarian private law relations before 1848, especially from the point of view of the nobiliary private law, was not so much the individual as the family. Although the person who acquired the right could be the individual, the right over the property acquired by him usually extended beyond his person to other members of his family living in a blood relationship with him, to his relatives whom he had to divide his property, such as his (mainly male) children, brothers and sometimes sisters, and, where appropriate, to his more distant collateral relatives. This study attempts to present family law relations in the early modern Hungary through a special group of documents, the wills and property division deeds. The basis of the investigation in the present study are the wills and division deeds of some Hungarian noble families from the 17th-19th centuries, which played a decisive role in national politics, but due to the scope of the study these are only arbitrarily selected, without aiming for completeness.

Comparing the Innovation and Export Performance of Hungarian Family and Non-Family Enterprises: Experiences Drawn from Empirical Surveys

Family enterprises are considered to be one of the oldest and still dominant forms of business organisations. However, their innovation activity is an emerging area of research, especially in the Central and Eastern European region. The aim of our study is to address this research gap by investigating, with the help of statistical tools, the relationship between the familiness of the firms, their innovation activity, and their export activity on representative samples of Hungarian SMEs in the years 2017, 2020, and 2022. Our results suggest that the innovation activity of exporting Hungarian SMEs is more significant than that of non-exporting SMEs. However, the relationship between familiness and innovation activity is not uniform in the three analyzed years, and the relationship between familiness and export activity is not significant. The findings of this study, that firms’ innovation and exporting activities can be mutually reinforcing, can be used by policymakers, curriculum developers in business education, and entrepreneurs. One of the main limitations of our research is that the 2020 and 2022 surveys were conducted after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shock of the Russian–Ukrainian war, respectively; thus, the decisions of the firms could have been influenced by the unpredictability of the external environment.

The opportunities of the resilience measurement in the family and child protection system in Hungary

This paper provides insight into the Hungarian research results of resilience among children, carried out in the research workshop of Rubeus Association and Gál Ferenc University. Our objective by communicating the research results published in the study was to exhibit the process and areas of applicability of measure instrument developments completed between 2018-2021, in the public and civil society sectors of the Hungarian Family and Child Protective System. We measuered the child resilience and the parental attitudes among the different targetgroups in Hungary. The children and their parents consist of the sample who are in very difficult lifepositions, dispite of they able to live with the help of the innovative model program wich in they are supported by professionals to able to live.