Hungarian Genealogy: Research Tip #6

The theme of today's tip is: Reusing Children Names.

This topic was brought up recently by a member of our Hungary Exchange Facebook group, so I thought I would discuss it a little bit. Make sure to check out the group and join us in the discussions!

It's a very sad topic to discuss, but it's an extremely crucial part of genealogy. If you have ancestors that came from Europe, odds were that within their family they probably had an infant child pass away young, and they named a newborn child after them. It was the family's way of keeping that specific first name going on, whether it be of someone from their immediate family or not.

Off hand, I knew of a great example. It was a family from the village of Tiszadob, where my 2nd-great-grandmother was born. I don't believe I am blood-kin to this specific family, but they do have a Szabó surname in their ancestry, which I also have from Tiszadob. Unfortunately, the records don't go back far enough for me to accurately prove a connection. Here are the details on this family:


József Teremi, born 08 Mar 1850, was married to Zsuzsánna Farkas, born 11 Sep 1852, on 15 Jan 1874; all events occurred in Tiszadob. They had eight children:

*József Teremi
b. 06 Feb 1875
d. 26 Apr 1875

*Eszter Teremi
b. 09 Dec 1875
d. 14 De 1875

*László Teremi
b. 08 Apr 1877
d. 19 Apr 1877

*Eszter Teremi
b. 12 Feb 1878
d. 02 Apr 1881

*József Teremi
b. 28 Feb 1880
d. 22 Apr 1881

*Eszter Teremi
b. 11 Jan 1882

*György Teremi
b. 25 Apr 1884

*József Teremi
b. 15 Oct 1887
d. 21 Oct 1887

As you can see, this family had three each of children named Eszter and József. They were very determined to continue using that name. What was so important about these names? We can't know for sure, but this is my guess: József was obviously the name of the father, but Eszter was the name of Zsuzsánna Farkas' sister. Zsuzsánna's sister, ironically, was also the third Eszter born within her family (there were two Terézia's, also). On a side note, there were two János' and two Juliánna siblings for József.

So take in note this article, so when you're going through the parish registers and find your ancestor's baptism.. but it's, let's say 10 year incorrect.. keep looking. It may be their older sibling that died in infancy.