Abstract:

The research project "Minority Name Management in a Slovak-Hungarian Bilingual Environment" is carried out at the Institute of Hungarian Linguistics and Literary Science of the Faculty of Central European Studies at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. The paper deals with the so far results of the research project and the specificities of minority name management in Slovakia. It discusses the differences between simple and organised name management; the function of the first name as a marker of ethnic identity; the trends in the choice of first names of Slovakian Hungarians living in a bilingual environment (the most significant minority in Slovakia is made up of ethnic Hungarians), and the work on the forthcoming Hungarian-Slovak first name dictionary. The first name dictionary aims to help Hungarian parents in Slovakia choose their newborn child's first name, promote the use of mother tongue names, and explain the laws regarding minority personal name rights in Slovakia. Furthermore, the dictionary can serve as a guide for the registration of first names in the mother tongue and could also be used in the registry offices of Hungarian municipalities in Slovakia. In the study, the author also presents the applicability of the research project in university education.

Keywords:

Research project, minority name management, first name, first name dictionary, naming trends, Slovak-Hungarian bilingual environment.