Magyar élclapok nem magyar nemzetiség szereplőinek nevei a 19. század második felében

Absztrakt

Names of characters of non-Hungarian nationality occurring in Hungarian humour magazines in the second half of the 19th century

This study examines whether the family names of characters of non-Hungarian nationality appearing in humour magazines of the 1860s and 1890s bear some resemblance to real-life family names of the era occurring in official registers. Relevant data were collected from two popular contemporary humour magazines, entitled “Üstökös” and “Borsszem Jankó”. The collected family names tend to inform us about the social status as well as the nationality of the indicated characters; thus, family names as ethnic symbols can clearly differentiate Hungarian and non-Hungarian figures in the magazines. By comparing the name stocks of the two observed periods, one can deduce that in the 1860s Jewish names were not dominant in these papers; in the 1890s, however, most non-Hungarian names were Jewish, which resulted in a reduced name stock: the names of the non-Jewish characters appeared less frequently and in fewer variations than in the 1860s. The author also discusses how the process of Magyarization of family names was reflected in the magazines.