surname
In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...
. Some variations of the spelling of this surname are as follows: Kőrösi, Kőrösy, Kőrössi, Kőrössy, Körösi, Körösy, Körössi, Körössy, Korosi, Korosy, Korossi, and Korossy.
The surname appears to be based on the Hungarian word ''körös''. By definition, the word means round/circular. Geographically, it is the name of a river (
Körös
The Körös () or Criș () ( German: ''Kreisch'') is a river in eastern Hungary and western Romania. Its length is from the confluence of its two source rivers Fehér-Körös ('' Crișul Alb'') and Fekete-Körös ('' Crișul Negru'') to its outf ...
) as well as the Hungarian name of the town of Križevci, Croatia. In addition, the Hungarian towns of
Kiskőrös
Kiskőrös (, ''Kishkerish'', , ) is a town in Bács-Kiskun, Hungary. Kiskőrös is situated between the Danube and Tisza rivers at around . Sándor Petőfi, the national poet of Hungary, was born here.
Geography
Kiskőrös is the sixth bigge ...
and
Nagykőrös
Nagykőrös is a town in Pest County, Hungary.
János Arany taught there from about 1851, and a local museum is named for him.
Notable people
*Szabolcs Czira (b. 1951), politician
*Frigyes Hegedűs (1920–2008), pentathlete
*István Kecskés (b ...
are often commonly referred to as ''Kőrös'' – as "ő" is simply the long variant of "ö" with the difference being almost negligible.
Following Hungarian grammar rules, the addition of the letter "i" to the end of some words implies a belonging, hence the word "Körösi" would translate to "of/from Körös".
In the late
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, it was common for Hungarian
noble
A noble is a member of the nobility.
Noble may also refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Noble Glacier, King George Island
* Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land
* Noble Peak, Wiencke Island
* Noble Rocks, Graham Land
Australia
* Noble Island, Gr ...
families with names derived in a similar way from a
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
to spell their names with "y" at the end instead of "i", and/or with a doubled
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...
before it. Thus was the surname Körösi changed to Körösy / Körössi / Körössy by some families. Later the name has also been
anglicized
Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
, by dropping the
diacritic
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...
s from the letters "ö" and "ő", by families migrating to countries where the alphabet did not support these letters.
Notable people with the surname include:
* Anita Potocskáné Kőrösi (1981–), Hungarian politician
*
Csaba Kőrösi
Csaba Kőrösi (; born 1958) is a Hungarians, Hungarian diplomat who served as President of the United Nations General Assembly, President of the 77th United Nations General Assembly.Albert Kálmán Kőrössy (1869–1955), Hungarian architect
*
János Kőrössy
János Kőrössy (Cluj 26 December 1926 – Bucharest 21 January 2013) was a Romanian jazz musician of Hungarian descent. He was a piano player, composer and arranger.
He was born to an ethnic Hungarian family in Cluj. His first teacher was pian ...
(1926–2013), Romanian jazz musician
* Joseph Körösi (1811–1868), Hungarian-born Austrian industrialist