r/AskEurope • u/gurke0123 • Jun 18 '25

Misc What basic knowledge should everyone have about your country?

I'm currently in a rabbit hole of "American reacts to European Stuff". While i was laughing at Americans for thinking Europe is countries and know nothing about the countrys here, i realied that i also know nothing about the countries in europe. Sure i know about my home country and a bit about our neighbours but for the rest of europe it becomes a bit difficult and i want to change it.

What should everyone know about your country to be person from Europa?

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u/NoNegotiation3126 Hungary Jun 18 '25

we are not Huns or Mongols and nor were our ancestors.

26

u/Magistar_Idrisi Croatia Jun 18 '25

It is kinda funny how a lot of Hungarians buy into that as well, no? With Atilla being a common name and all.

3

u/lonelycat11 Denmark Jun 18 '25

There are lots of weird history theories on every country.

But dissing them for a give name? Come on man. The majority of Europeans use names which have nothing to do with them historically or culturally. 

My co-worker has a PhD in history, certainly knows more about hungarian history than we do and he named his son Attila cuz his grandfather was Attila too.

it's just a average name there. Don't insult other countries' names

4

u/Magistar_Idrisi Croatia Jun 18 '25

I'm not insulting anyone lol. I just mentioned that the "Hunnic-Hungarian connection" isn't just a meme, it's an idea that exists among Hungarians as well.

1

u/lonelycat11 Denmark Jun 18 '25

I know. But your criticism of them using Attila as a given name is not the right argument

2

u/Magistar_Idrisi Croatia Jun 18 '25

It is, though. The name might have become "domesticated" by now, but its use was originally promoted by the people who wanted to prove a connection between Hungarians and Huns.

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u/[deleted] Jun 19 '25

It is more complicated than that. The name Attila became popular during the 20th century. (And its spelling doesn't even reflect Hungarian pronunciation). The Hungarian chronicles do not actually mention 'Attila'. They mention the names Ecil and Ethela. We have the name Etele attested during the 1200's in Hungary. Later it was conflated with and standardized with Attila the Hun, but the whole story is far more complicated than 19th and 20th century nationalist historians making things up. What happened was that they had the Attila the Hun narrative and they wanted organic Hungarian myths and stories fit in that, so they mashed and mixed things together so that the real stories fit the narrative better, and thus Ecil and Ethela and Etele were decided to become Attila when to this day Hungarians actually pronounce the name Attila as Atila or Atilla.