About the Sebdenic family?

Question

Dear people, I am a descendant from a family named Sebdenic who is a family from Zagreb Croatia.

They lived in Budapest, Hungary.

In 1939 they changed their name to Seregelyi.

Does anyone know why people changed their names in Hungary in this period?

My father said because otherwise they couldn't study at the university in Hungary, people needed to change their names to Hungarian names, is this true? and does anybody know the family Sebdenic?

(there should be a little stripe to the right on the c)

What family is it?

Greetings and I hope to get an answer soon,

Recia.

Answer 1

I don't have an answer for you, but I searched for Seregelyi and found some links to other people researching the name.  Hope this helps.

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th...

http://www.radixforum.com/surnames/sereg...

http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/eceurope...

Answer 2

Completely a guess, but at the beginning of WW II it may have been safer to look like you were a long-time native of Hungary (which was once part of the Austrian Empire) rather than a recent arrival to the country -- with questionable loyalty. The n***s may also have had a greater distrust of Croatians (as a group) than of Hungarians.