Comments on language users’ knowledge about family names

Abstract

Comments on language users’ knowledge about family names  

The paper presents the conclusions drawn from a 2010 questionnaire survey of adult language users’ knowledge about, and attitudes to their own names, family names from their places of residence and family names of occupational origin. The 68 respondents involved in the survey had little understanding of the onomastic features of their own family names and were also ill-informed about names typical in their home towns, but possessed a great deal of relatively precise information about their first names. In general, respondents displayed a positive attitude towards their family names, appreciating family names as distinctiveness and identity markers. Occupational family names, which account for a considerable proportion of Hungarian family names, were only recognised if the term for the occupation is commonly used and widely known in the present day and the nameform is morphologically and etymologically transparent. Language users were found to have very little knowledge of etymology, and were prone to rely on folk-etymology instead. Furthermore, the uncertainty of language users in connection with the possible motivations of family name giving could also be observed in their responses.