Town in Hungary
June 28, 2019 10:53 AM Subscribe
Please could you help me find the name of the town in Hungary that my dad’s family is from?
My dad’s dad was born on the boat on the way to the US. The ones that stayed behind were (nearly) all murdered in the Holocaust. My dad says the town was called Nudmehigh. That is not an accurate spelling (!). He may have heard his family say it in a Yiddish accent, and he grew up in New York (if that helps anyone understand his phonetics (if that’s the word I mean).
I heard that the last syllable could maybe be spelled ‘jaly’ in Hungarian, but the rest is beyond me. Any tips? Thank you!
My dad’s dad was born on the boat on the way to the US. The ones that stayed behind were (nearly) all murdered in the Holocaust. My dad says the town was called Nudmehigh. That is not an accurate spelling (!). He may have heard his family say it in a Yiddish accent, and he grew up in New York (if that helps anyone understand his phonetics (if that’s the word I mean).
I heard that the last syllable could maybe be spelled ‘jaly’ in Hungarian, but the rest is beyond me. Any tips? Thank you!
If nobody here is able to sort it for you, there are two groups on Facebook, Jewish Genealogy Portal and Tracing the Tribe, which might be able to help you better than MetaFilter. Otherwise, JewishGen has a number of resources that might help - this page on Soundex (phonetic) coding of names might be useful. I'm honestly not quite sure how to pronounce the word you've given, but you might be able to use that tool to find out what a more accurate spelling could be.
posted by epanalepsis at 11:04 AM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by epanalepsis at 11:04 AM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
JewishGen may be able to be of some assistance.
posted by Jeanne at 11:04 AM on June 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Jeanne at 11:04 AM on June 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
Best answer: The last part is probably mihály. Do you think it could be Nagymihály (Michalovce) in eastern Slovakia?
posted by karbonokapi at 11:08 AM on June 28, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by karbonokapi at 11:08 AM on June 28, 2019 [8 favorites]
Have you looked up his name in the emigration records on Ancestry.com? Many of the ship manifests list the town of origin for the immigrant.
posted by xo at 11:10 AM on June 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by xo at 11:10 AM on June 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
Agreeing that the name will by X-mihály. Also, your spelling made me guffaw at work, so thanks for that!
posted by orrnyereg at 1:09 PM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by orrnyereg at 1:09 PM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I played my dad this sound and he said that was it. Thanks for the JewishGen tips as well. I have found some people with our surname who were born in Michalovce.
Thank you alll so much.
posted by mgrrl at 2:10 PM on June 28, 2019 [12 favorites]
Thank you alll so much.
posted by mgrrl at 2:10 PM on June 28, 2019 [12 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
The first part of the word sounds slightly like ‘nagy’ which means big. There are a few towns in the list starting with this word - it’s quite common.
Depending on when he emigrated, he may have been born in territories which now belong to other countries: Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine.
That’s all the help I can give, as a non-native speaker of the language. Good luck!
posted by Parsnip at 11:01 AM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]