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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Hungarian and Jewish (from Hungary) : status name from vajda ‘leader’, ‘governor’, a word of Slavic origin. The Hungarian name is especially common in Transylvania, where, before the creation of the independent Hungarian principality, the term had denoted the highest ranking administrative and military leader. In medieval times various Romanian village leaders, as well as the leaders of gypsy caravans, were also called vajda. As a Jewish name it was ornamental or a name taken by a rabbi.

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