Posted By:	Frank Nagy
	Email:
	Subject:	Re: Is the name Nagyfej in anyway related to Nagy?
	Post Date:	March 07, 2002 at 07:04:32
	Message URL:	http://genforum.genealogy.com/nagy/messages/182.html
	Forum:	Nagy Family Genealogy Forum
	Forum URL:	http://genforum.genealogy.com/nagy/

You're probably off several bases. Think about this. Your source for the earliest spelling is Croatian. Why not make an inquiry of someone who knows that language. Then take into consideration that there is a Magyar word NAD (with a diacritical over the "a" - an accent mark) meaning "reed". If your name is Magyar or derived from Magyar, this could explain it's origin. There were people who made their livelihoods from the marshlands which were once so plentiful in the Danube basin. The suffix "-fey" throws me. I don't know Magyar well enough to speculate about it. Spelling variations cropped up for a variety reasons. One reason could be the ignorance of the people charged with maintaining records. For example a priest from another ethnic group being assigned to a parish, and just not knowing the language of his parishioners. The record keepers' lousy penmanship is another factor which confounded matters. Nagy fej does indeed translate as "big head". Though some will argue to the contrary, our peasant ancestors didn't always pick their surnames. These were often assigned by arrogant elites to mock their social inferiors. Then too, insulting nicknames originating in the local community became surnames. Who knows?