Dear Frank, Nagy, meaning big, is indeed the most common surname in Hungary. (See http://www.bogardi.com/gen/g021.htm.) Kovács, meaning smith, is second. Smith is the most common surname in English-speaking countries. Hmm. It makes one wonder how Nagy came to be so common. Big, or Bigg, is not especially common as an English surname. But we might call someone “Big John,“ which in Hungarian would be Nagy János. Since Hungarians put the surname first, followed by the given name, “Big John“ might have become adopted as a full name (surname + given name) instead of its original meaning (adjective + given name). Any other hypotheses floating around? Janet