7 Comments
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Gigi Vella | Author's avatar

How cool! I'm actually part Hungarian, but I've never visited, so this was an interesting read. It's on the list to go one day!

Mikkel Strøm Lunnemann's avatar

We gotta figure out what kind. There are at least 10 major ethnic groups

Gigi Vella | Author's avatar

Gosh, that will be difficult considering it's on my father's side and we're estranged.

Mikkel Strøm Lunnemann's avatar

If you have a Hungarian last name it might tell you what region or even what village your family is from, so no need to go mend things with your father if you want to discover your origins

Gigi Vella | Author's avatar

Ah I do! It’s Grecula. I remember doing an ancestry.com search once years ago and assumed the name was changed when my ancestors immigrated through Ellis island. I think the name I found was Gricola or something.

Mikkel Strøm Lunnemann's avatar

Oh, that might mean your family is from Hungary but not ethnically Hungarian. It sounds like a variation of one of the surnames used by German/Dutch farmers that immigrated to the part of modern day Slovakia that was then part of greater Hungary. I just drove through a similar area today called Transylvanian Saxony. It used to be a semi autonomous German speaking territory inside Transylvania that existed from the 1200's up until the communist era in Romania when they were driven from their lands.

Gigi Vella | Author's avatar

I ran through the paper trail and discovered my great grandfather immigrated from Nyírlugos, Szaboles-Szatmar-Bereg, Hungary in 1889.