DIY Guide to Hungarian Genealogy: Locate Records, Prove Descent, Claim Citizenship
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The Hungarian Family Genealogy Process in Eight Steps for FREE
Last updated July 2025 • Written for English speakers with Hungarian roots
Why bother with old Hungarian archives in the first place?
Between 1867 and 1918 the Kingdom of Hungary stretched across what are now seven different countries. A single civil-register entry from that era can unlock citizenship by descent, inheritance claims, or simply reconnect a family story. Modern Hungarian and successor-state archives have digitised millions of page-images—often free to browse—yet most remain untouched by Google.
1 · Start with kitchen-table facts
- Write down full names + spelling variants.
- Add an approximate birth year ± 10 years.
- Attach one concrete location: a Hungarian village or a U.S. city where the person lived.
Rule of thumb: If you can’t fill those three cells, pause and mine family Bibles, obituaries, or draft cards first. Blind archive digging burns time fast.
2 · Search digitised parish & civil registers
Key portals (free to view)
- Hungaricana Archives viewer – parish books to 1895, civil registers ≈1895-1920.
- MNL AdatbázisokOnline – master search; choose Állami anyakönyvek for civil entries.
- FamilySearch collection 1452460 – births to 1920, marriages to 1950, deaths to 1980.
Pro search tip
Use Hungarian column abbreviations in the PDF text-finder: szül. (born), ház. (married), megh. (died). House numbers (házszám) help confirm the right family when surnames repeat.
3 · Inside the privacy window (post-1920 events)
Records less than 130 years old (birth), 75 years (marriage), or 30 years (death) are sealed. Email the local Anyakönyvi Hivatal (civil registrar) with: passport scan, lineage chart, request for “két példány teljes, hiteles kivonat”. Typical fee: 3 500–5 000 HUF per copy, 2–4 weeks turnaround.
4 · Ancestors from “lost counties” (Slovakia, Romania, etc.)
Find the right successor-state office, order two certified extracts, add a Hague apostille, then translate into Hungarian. One extra document must show the ancestor kept Hungarian citizenship after 1920: opt-in certificate, HU passport renewal, or “no naturalisation” letter from the new state.
5 · Build the unbroken proof chain
- Qualifying HU birth/baptism for G-1.
- At least one record per generation that names both parents.
- Your own long-form U.S. birth certificate.
If a record is missing, request an anyakönyvi hatósági bizonyítvány (official “no entry” certificate) and back-fill with two secondary sources (draft card + census, for example).
6 · Certified copies · Apostilles · Translations
- Order two certified originals of every foreign document—one spare.
- Apostille first, then translate
7 · Five classic pitfalls (fast fixes)
- Spelling drift. Add an alias note the first time the name appears; consuls accept variants if cross-referenced.
- Missing civil book. Use parish duplicate (keresztelési másodpéldány) or negative certificate.
- Apostille delays. Many U.S. states now offer e-apostille; print the entire PDF in colour.
- Translation backlog. Walk-in consular translation often beats OFFI turn-around.
- Diacritic typos. Switch keyboard to Hungarian; copy-paste Á É Ő Ű.
8 · Next steps & further reading
- Bookmark the Hungarian National Archives’ English portal for record-ordering FAQs.
- Join one focused genealogy forum (e.g.
HU_GenealogyDiscord) for peer look-ups. - When your proof-chain grid has zero blank cells, download the NK-1 petition and book a consular slot.
Fair warning: Even a “clean” lineage can be very difficult to lock down all the documents, and sometimes getting one if you do it through the wrong channels leads to nothing and others it could take 6–12 weeks of document turn-around. Pace yourself & label everything up front—you’ll thank yourself at interview time. In the end, it is a trail and error process as a DIY researcher. But don't give up and good luck!