My name is KISS. Gabriella Kiss
Really! I´m serious! My family name is Kiss.
Before you get too much excited about this, I assure you, my name has nothing to do with the English word “kiss”, it has just the same form.
It is a lucky coincidence. Every time I am in abroad or foreigners see my name, it happens the same thing: “Oh, what a lovely name you have! Do you have English antecedents?” … and the same conversation begins: No, I am Hungarian and my name should be pronounced otherwise than “kiss”.
The truth is that outside of Hungary I feel like a superstar. In Hungary I am only one of the ten thousands with the same name. I have just read that my family name was the seventh most popular in my country in 2014. Imagine! A country full of Kisses!
So, what do you think, why do I live in Portugal? Well, in Portugal I am the only one with this name! A real superstar! Who the heck is James Bond?
I have made some research regarding the background of my name and discovered quite interesting facts. It has Turkish (!!!) origin (the word kiči pronounce like “kitchi”) and means little, not too big, young. In the last centuries people used to differentiate the younger family members of the same name (f.ex. Little John and Big John) and sometimes this given name remained as their family name. During the years the form of this word had been suffering some changes until finally got its recent form “Kiss”.
Hungarian is among the 10 most difficult languages in the world. Our ABC contains 44 letters:
The pronunciation is hell, the grammar is hell. Just to intimidate you even more, here is a short text about the Hungarian language :) http://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/the-10-most-difficult-languages-in-the-world/
For this reason Hungarians have no other choice, they have to learn other foreign languages. I am a good example of it!
OK, but at the end of all this, how should my name to be pronounced? This is a real challenge as I am writing! The best way to get my name correctly spoken is to find a word with a similar pronunciation. I use the French word “quiche” as example. Got it?
If you have found my post interesting, please like it! If you have any questions or would like to share with me your thoughts or have a great story with your own name or language, I´ll be happy about your comment!
Sziasztok és köszönöm!
(Ciao for now and thank you!)
Gabriella
Recent Comments
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Thank you Joy! I wanted to share more things about myself within the Community. Have a great and blessed day!
What a great idea Inigo! Dear Neighbour, thank you for your kind words! You hacked my mysterious image!
This is a great post! I'm Swedish and our family name is Lof with 2 dots over the o. However, when my father came to the US by way of Ellis Island, our family name, for some reason, became Leaf.
One of my childhood friends was Billy Finger...imagine growing up with that last name haha
Great! I am very happy that you could link your own story to my post! Yes it is true, names can be a blessing or for some a curse... Thank you for your comment Karen! Have a nice day!
Thank you Alexander! I need to practice, so I chose a topic with that I was familiar - with myself!
I can appreciate the story behind your name. Definitely worth taking the time to write about or read about. Thank you for taking the time to enlighten those of us who only speak one language. I think it's because as a nation, we Americans are just lazy and a bit too narcissistic to bother you learn other languages.
But speaking for myself, I do love quiche :-)
Hey Hal, I do like quiche too and considering this fact, I am narcistic too. :) Thanks for reading my post!
I love learning about our names and ancestry. It is very interesting and I have used ancestry.com to do research on my family history and names. Thank you so much for sharing, Gabriella! :-)
Thank you Diane! One half of my familiy is from Transsilvania. Don´t worry, I am not planning any post on Graf Dracula! :) Have a great day!
That's fantastic! May I call you Kiss? My name was Smith which was a noble name because smith was the centre of the community - blacksmith....so I renamed myself to Greensmith...a grower of trees....LOL...great post...first one I have read this morning! Smith is now only a common name.
Hi Michael! Even as Greensmith you cannot compete with my husband´s family name: Jorge Paulo de Sá da Graça Capoto. My children kept only Kiss Capoto. I think I want to be a grower of blog posts to maintain productivity but will keep my family name! First post of your day... I am delighted!
Fascinating Gabriella, and you obviously have what it takes to be a very successful member of this remarkable community ! Steve
Thank you Steve! I really appreciate your feedback! It is a real challenge to transmit your personal style in a foreign language and hope that the others understand that you wanted to tell them. :)
I think you did an outstanding Job, and it was no problem at all understanding what you said. You speak and write better English than a lot of us do! All the best, Steve
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Nice story Gabriella, My first name is Joke. In English in means jest haha. But in English is one syllable. But in Dutch it is two syllables
Jo ke. Our French friends can't pronounce the ke some I'm always a joke in France
Hi Joke, well perhaps it is better you avoid to travel to France! There are so many cultural and linguistic differences in the world. Only tolerance, respect and humor can bridge them. Indeed, you a have a unique name! Thank you for sharing your story!