Attila is a popular masculine name in
Central and Eastern Europe
Central and Eastern Europe is a geopolitical term encompassing the countries in Baltic region, Northeast Europe (primarily the Baltic states, Baltics), Central Europe (primarily the Visegrád Group), Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (primaril ...
,
Southeastern Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...
and
Western Asia
West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian ...
. Primarily in
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
and
Chuvashia. Attila is the most used version in Hungary, however another version of Attila is Atilla and Etele, the female equivalent of which is
Etelka. Attila may be also used as Atilla in Turkish.
Etymology
It has been traditionally claimed that the name Attila is formed from
Gothic ''atta'' meaning "father", through the
diminutive
A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...
suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
-''ila'', the "little father".
Related names are not uncommon among
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of ...
of the period, i. e.
Ætla, Bishop of Dorchester.
The Gothic etymology was proposed by
Jacob Grimm
Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He formulated Grimm's law of linguistics, and was the co-author of the ''Deutsch ...
and
Wilhelm Grimm in the early 19th century.
argued that the Gothic etymology is a product of 19th century Germanic
romantic philological revisionism.
Otto Maenchen-Helfen, who considered Gothic etymology, noted that Hunnic names were "not the true names of the Hun princes and lords. What we have are Hunnic names in Germanic dress, modified to fit the Gothic tongue, or popular Gothic etymologies, or both".
noted Attila has more natural and probable
Turkic etymology.
considered ''̕Άττίλα'' (Attila) a composite title-name which derived from Turkic *''es'' (great, old), and *''t il'' (sea, ocean), and the suffix /a/.
The stressed back syllabic ''til'' assimilated the front member ''es'', so it became *''as''.
It is a nominative, in form of ''attíl-'' (< *''etsíl'' < *''es tíl'') with the meaning "the oceanic, universal ruler".
, citing Pritsak, like
László Rásonyi connected Attila's name with a note by
Menander in which the term ''Attilan'' was used as the name of the
Volga River (Turkic ''
Atil
Atil, also Itil, was the capital of the Khazar Khaganate from the mid-8th century to the late 10th century. It is known historically to have been situated along the Silk Road, on the northern coast of the Caspian Sea, in the Volga Delta region of ...
/Itil''; "great river").
connected it with Turkic ''āt'' (name, fame).
Gerd Althoff considered it was related to Turkish ''atli'' (horseman, cavalier), or Turkish ''at'' (horse) and ''dil'' (tongue).
Given name
*
Attila
Attila ( or ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central Europe, C ...
(died 453), ruler of the
Huns
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...
*
Saint Attila (937–1007), Aragonese bishop
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Atilla Altıkat (died 1982), Turkish diplomat
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Attila Ábrahám (born 1967), Hungarian sprint canoeist
*
Attila Ambrus (born 1967), Hungarian bank robber
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Attila Aşkar (born 1943), Turkish mathematician and president of Koç University
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Attila Balázs
Attila Balázs (; born September 27, 1988) is a Hungarian former professional tennis player.
He has a career-high singles ATP ranking of No. 76 achieved on 2 March 2020. He is a seven time Hungarian National Tennis Champion; after Béla von K ...
(born 1989), Hungarian tennis player
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Attila Barcza (born 1985). Hungarian politician
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Attila Szalai (born 1998), Hungarian footballer
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Attila Böjte (born 1976), Hungarian footballer
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Áttila de Carvalho (born 1910, date of death unknown), known as ''Áttila'', Brazilian international footballer
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Attila Csihar (born 1971), Hungarian musician
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Attila Csipler (1939–1996), Romanian fencer
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Attila Cseke (born 1973), Hungarian politician in Romania
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Attila Czene (born 1974), Hungarian swimmer
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Attila Dargay (1927–2009), Hungarian animator
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Attila Demény, (1955–2021), Romanian ethnic Hungarian composer and theatre director
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Attila Elek (born 1982), Hungarian ice dancer
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Atilla Engin (1946–2019), Turkish American musician
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Attila Fekete (disambiguation)
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Attila Filkor (born 1988), Hungarian footballer
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Attila Hejazi (born 1976), Iranian retired football player and coach.
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Attila Horváth (disambiguation)
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Attilâ İlhan (1925–2005), Turkish writer and poet
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Attila József (1905–1937), Hungarian poet
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Attila Kerekes (born 1954), Hungarian international footballer
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Attila Kovács (disambiguation)
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Attila Ladinsky (1949–2020), nicknamed ''Le Gitan'', Hungarian footballer
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Attila Losonczy (born 1974), Hungarian neuroscientist and Columbia University professor
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Attila Mesterházy
Attila Mesterházy (born 30 January 1974) is a Hungarian politician, who served as the seventh chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) from 10 July 2010 to 29 May 2014. He was a Member of Parliament between 2004 and 2022. He was the par ...
(born 1974), Hungarian politician
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Attila Nagy (actor) (1933–1992), Hungarian actor
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Attila Özdemiroğlu (1943–2016), Turkish composer and arranger
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Attila Péterffy (born 1969), Hungarian politician
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Atila Pesyani (born 1957), Iranian actor.
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Attila Petschauer (1904–1943), Hungarian 2x team Olympic champion saber fencer killed in the Holocaust
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Attila Pintér (disambiguation)
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Attila Sallustro, Italian-Paraguayan footballer
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Attila Sávolt (born 1976), Hungarian tennis player
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Attila Sekerlioglu (born 1965), Turkish footballer
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Attila Simon (disambiguation)
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Attila Szabó (disambiguation)
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Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy (born 1972), Hungarian economist
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Attila Tököli (born 1976), Hungarian footballer
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Attila Zoller (1927–1998), Hungarian-born jazz musician
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Attila the Hun (calypsonian) (1892–1962), Trinidadian singer
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Attila the Stockbroker (born 1957), British punk poet
Other
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Attila (horse) (1839–1846), British thoroughbred racehorse and sire
* Louis Attila (1844–1924), name used by German-born American strongman
Ludwig Durlacher
See also
*
Attila (disambiguation)
References
{{given name, Attila
Hungarian masculine given names
Turkish masculine given names
Masculine given names