The most useful rule first
In Hungarian, primary word stress normally falls on the first syllable. The spelling system is also more regular than English, so learning a small set of digraphs and accented vowels goes a long way.
Key consonant spellings
| sz | roughly English s |
| s | roughly English sh |
| zs | similar to the sound in vision |
| cs | roughly English ch |
| ny | similar to the “ny” in canyon |
| gy | a palatal consonant with no exact single English equivalent |
| j / ly | generally a “y” sound in modern standard Hungarian |
Accented vowels matter
Hungarian accents are part of the spelling. Acute accents often distinguish long vowels, while ö/ő and ü/ű represent front rounded vowels. Removing accents can make a name easier to type internationally, but it is not always the same spelling in Hungarian.
Use the name directory
Each page in the 250-name directory flags the important Hungarian letter patterns that appear in that specific name.