About
the Name "Bartalos"
Here I
start with a disclaimer. My original working assumption was that individuals
with the surname Bartalos, or with one of its close variants, have descended
from common ancestors. Now I do not consider this to be the case.
The family name Bartalos,
sometimes written as Barthalos and Bartaloss
(Siebmacher), Bartalyos (Kempelen) and Barthaloss (Thaly)
shows up in diverse sources and in diverse connotations over the centuries.
Kazmer states (Regi Magyar Csaladnevek Szotara XIV-XVII. Szazad, 1993, page
100) that the following variations in spelling have been used interchangeably
with the name Bartalos: Barthalyos, Bartalus, Barthalus, Barthalws, Barthalyus,
Barthallyws, Barthaljus, Bartalius, Barthalius, Bartalijws, Bartalios,
Barthwlws, and Birtalos.
In Kazmer's view the Bartalos name
and its above listed variations derived from the ecclesiastical name Bertalan,
which was earlier written in Hungarian as Bartalan and Birtalan. The name is
that of one of the twelve apostles known as Bartholomeus in Latin, and
Bartolomeo, Bartholomew, etc. in other languages. Kazmer justifies his
conclusion by pointing out past usage of Bart and Bartal as forms of endearment
deriving from Bartalan and the use of the endings -os, -us and -is as diminutives. Thus the names
Bart(h)al-os and Bart(h)al-us and Bart(h)al-is might have been employed to
refer to the offspring of Bart(h)al, the "Little Bartal."
(Referring to Kazmer once again,
Bartalos is not the only Hungarian name believed to be derived from
Bertalan-Birtalan-Bartalan. This characteristic is shared by other old
Hungarian family names such as Barta, Bartafi, Bartal, Barthal, Bartali,
Bartalis, Barthalyis, Barto, Bartho, Bartok, Bartos, Berta, Bertal, Bertall,
Bertalam, Bertalis, Bertalmi, Berte, Bertek, Berti, Berto, Bertho, Bertos,
Bertok, Bertus and Birta).
It is indeed likely that the
family name Bartalos has been derived from the personal name
Bartalan/Birtalan/Bertalan, as suggested by Kazmer. This transformation
probably took place in the 15th century, when both family and personal (i.e.
given) names started to be used widely in
Both Siebmacher and Kempelen suggested that the
Bartalos, Bogyay and Bertalanffy families shared a common origin. Kazmer
derives Bertalanffy from Bertalam with the suffix -fy added, which means
"the son of." He found the first mention of a "Bertalamfy" in 1483 with subsequent
variations of Bert(h)alanfy and Bert(h)alanffy. On the occasion of the 70th
birthday of the eminent scientist Ludwig von Bertalanffy the heraldic historian
and novelist Szabolcs de Vajay reviewed Bertalanffy's family lineage which was
published in a Festschrift (de Vajay, Sz.: The Bertalanffys. Their lineage
within the social structure of
The genealogy of the Bogyay family is detailed
by Pettko and Reiszig (Nemes Csaladok, Budapest,1905). It is stated in no
uncertain term that "the family originally resided in Nagymad in the
Other Bartalos families
The name Bartholomeus or
Bartolomeo were subject to change ever since their adoption in
In 1449 the noble Imre
Barthalyos "philisteus capitaneus" and his family received
confirmation for the possession of Borsohalma, Mihalytelek, Fugedegyhaz and
Lantha localities. We know that this Imre had a son named Janos who lived in
Borsohalma and was a landowner. Jakab also lived in Borsohalma and was a
captain and landowner.These are mentioned in several places in the third volume
of Istvan Gyarfas' book "A jasz-kunok tortenete".
Blasius (Balazs) Barthalyws is
mentioned in 1483 as a resident of Kolozs county and Istvan and Simon
Barthallyos from Kyde in 1508 are found in the second volume of
Janos Barthalos of Felcsernad,
Transylvania is mentioned in 1522 (Szekely okleveltar, vol. 3, p.215), while
the pastor Balazs Bartalius is the subject of a document issued in 1614
by Gabor Bethlen, the Prince of Transylvania (Erdelyi kiralyi konyvek). Tamas
Bartalyos of Debrecen received
nobility and coat of arms from Prince Gyorgy Rakoczi the First in 1642 and in
the same year another document makes reference to Balint Bartalos of
Gyulafehervar. These last two
references are from the Hungarian "Kiralyi konyvek"
It is a real possibility that the
Bartalos alive today originated from more than one unrelated ancestors living
in diverse areas of