The examination of given names in the conscription of nobles of Nógrád county in 1841

Abstract

The examination of given names in the conscription of nobles of Nógrád county in 1841

The conscription discussed in this paper contains the names of 4006 male nobles from Nógrád county, altogether 117 given names. The first part of the article examines the inventory of the given names. The nobles used given names of Christian and non-Christian origin. In the group of Christian names we can find names from the Old and the New Testament and from the Roman Martyrology as well. The article also points out the lack of variety in the use of given names. The use of names and the name giving practices of the 18th century were quite dull; in contrast, more and more given names were used in the 19th century. Nevertheless, only a few names were used by the majority of people. For instance, 6 names were used by more than 50% of the nobles and 16 names by 90% of them. The article points out that the proportions of the most common names of the nobles are more or less parallel with those from other social classes. At the end of the paper the author writes about the possible reasons for the popularity of the most common given names.