Married name Hungary: how your name can change after marrying a Hungarian?

Depending on the country of your official wedding you can choose from different married names after the wedding. In this blogpost I collected the combinations and options you can choose from if you marry a Hungarian in Hungary.

Married name Hungary options: how you can change your name after the wedding?

When having the official (civil) wedding in Hungary not only the bride but also the groom can choose a married name. You need to declare about the chosen name when applying for the marriage license - and at this occasion you also need to get your future mutual kids' family name registered.

Below I collected the options supposing a Hungarian husband (Kovács János) and a foreign citizen wife (Julie Cobbler).

Married name options in Hungary

Husband Wife

Kovács Cobbler

Kids: Kovács or Cobbler or Kovács-Cobbler or Cobbler-Kovács

Kovács Kovács

Kids: Kovács

Cobbler Cobbler

Kids: Cobbler

Kovács Kovács-Cobbler

Kids: Kovács or Kovács-Cobbler

Kovács Cobbler-Kovács

Kids: Kovács or Cobbler-Kovács

Kovács-Cobbler Kovács-Cobbler

Kids: Kovács-Cobbler

Cobbler-Kovács Cobbler-Kovács

Kids: Cobbler-Kovács

Kovács-Cobbler Cobbler

Kids: Cobbler or Kovács-Cobbler

Cobbler-Kovács Cobbler

Kids: Cobbler or Cobbler-Kovács

Kovács Kovácsné Cobbler Julie

Kids: Kovács

Kovács Kovács Jánosné

Kids: Kovács

Kovács Kovács Jánosné Cobbler Julie

Kids: Kovács

The last three names are created with the suffix "-né", which is attached to the husband's family name or full name. This unique solution exists in only some languages in the World - and one of them is Hungarian. However it's rarely chosen by foreign women, because it's unknown elsewhere. Some decades ago - especially when the hyphen double names did not exist - it was default for married women to choose one of these options. Nowadays, modern girls rather go with the hyphen ones or they simple keep their maiden name. It happens most rarely that the husband chooses a new family name for himself (mostly also with the hyphen version), but it happens.

For the kids the majority of the couples choose the father's family name, but the double family names are also trending more and more.

If you need help in arranging the paperwork for your wedding in Hungary as a foreign citizen, you can choose our smallest package ("F").