Hungary is preparing to reverse a controversial overhaul of its tightly regulated baby-name system. A previous decision to remove 145 given names from the official list has been overturned, while ten new names are already set to be added.

Hungary’s Ministry for Social Relations and Culture is preparing major changes to the system for approving new given names, following talks with the ELTE Research Centre for Linguistics in early September, 24.hu reported.

The new government has effectively invalidated decisions made by the former Given Name Approval Committee, which was established under the previous Fidesz government and chaired by former Fidesz politician Lajos Kósa.

The most striking consequence is that 145 names previously earmarked for removal will remain on Hungary’s official list of permitted given names. At the same time, ten new baby-names have already been approved for inclusion.

Ten new names are on the way

Among the newly accepted names are Liszka, Benna, Floriána, Doron, Zeliha and Gittel.

According to Judit Raátz of the Research Centre for Linguistics, four of six names previously recommended by linguists were accepted during the review, while another six were approved at the September meeting. This means the official list is already certain to expand by ten names.

And the list may not stop there. Applications submitted after 12 May are expected to be evaluated in the coming weeks, after which officials and linguists will meet again and could approve further names. The updated list will still have to be formally published before the changes fully take effect.

The names that sparked Kósa’s crackdown

Hungary has long had stricter rules on baby-names than many other countries, as parents must go through an approval procedure. The controversy began in 2025, when Lajos Kósa pushed for tighter political control over Hungary’s official list of given names.

Explaining the proposal in parliament, Kósa singled out several names that were already legally available to Hungarian parents. He pointed to Kandida and Orália among female baby-names, as well as Késav, Orda, Gida and Legolasz among male baby-names, arguing that the country’s stock of given names forms part of Hungary’s national identity.

As we reported at the time, the reform transferred the final authority over Hungary’s official given-name list from linguistic experts to the minister responsible for culture.

If you missed it: Hungary tightens baby-names: new ministerial list in force

Under the old system, linguistic experts assessed applications and applicants were generally informed of a decision within 30 days. After the reform, however, the final list had to be formally issued by the minister — a change that critics said dramatically slowed the process.

281 applications, and only one initially made it through

The problems became particularly visible in January. The Kósa-led committee reviewed 281 applications for new given names submitted since the previous August. The Research Centre for Linguistics recommended seven of them, but the committee approved just one: Vinka, a female name also associated with the periwinkle flower.

The committee also examined 198 existing names that were not being used by any Hungarian citizen and proposed removing 145 of them from the official register. Neither decision ultimately became official.

For some parents, however, the delay had very real consequences: according to 24.hu, children were born while their parents were still waiting for decisions on the names they had requested.

Former culture and innovation minister Balázs Hankó never published the changes in the Hungarian Gazette, meaning the planned deletion of the 145 names — and the addition of Vinka — never formally entered into force.

Back to the linguists

The new ministry and the Research Centre for Linguistics now want to redesign the procedure and return a much larger role to linguistic experts. The September review overturned the previous committee’s decision to remove the 145 names, meaning none of them will now be deleted.

The longer-term aim is to restore a faster system in which applications can once again be dealt with largely on professional linguistic grounds rather than requiring repeated political approval.

Doing so will require amendments to both regulations and legislation. Hungary’s currently published legal name list is still based on the 2025 ministerial decree, and the present application procedure continues to direct parents through the ministry.

For Hungarian parents looking for something a little less conventional, however, the direction is clear; the list is about to get longer, not shorter.

Read more from us: Hungary’s political season heats up: Magyar hits the road as Orbán declares ‘national resistance’