Office for National and Ethnic Minorities
Budapest, Hungary

Solymosi Judit <solymosij@mail.datanet.hu>

Selection of news on
national and ethnic minorities in Hungary

July – September 2004

The register of forenames of national and ethnic minorities in Hungary
has been completed

With the involvement of experts, by January 2004, twelve out of the
thirteen national self-governments of minorities compiled their lists of
forenames based on their traditions. The Armenians, due to internal
dispute, failed to come to a consensus on the matter. As a consequence
of this, in August 2004, the book containing the complete list of
eligible minority forenames was published without the Armenian names.

Simultaneously, the Ministry of Interior has compiled the forms of
bilingual birth-certificates. A person declaring minority affiliation
may choose the forename of his or her child from the above mentioned
list. The decision whether he or she chooses the option of a Hungarian
certificate with the phonetically written version of the name, or rather
goes for the bilingual document, lies with him or her.