Does anyone know the derivation of the female given name "Mingye",
also spelled as Mingya and Mindya and Mindje? I have seen this name
in a lot of records >from Maramaros megye, Hungary (now Maramures
county, Romania and sub-Carpathian Ukraine), but I have never seen the
name used commonly elsewhere.

It does not appear to be derived >from Miriam, as there were many other
women in the same area who used Mariem (Marjem, Meriam, Merjem) and
Maria. In one case, I found a woman named Mingye born in 1883 who was
the mother of a girl named Maria born in 1902.

Is it a local variant of the Hebrew name Menuchah, the way Mindl or
Minya were common elsewhere? If so, what's up with the letter G
showing up in there?

Just curious...

(If you search the H-SIG list archives, you can find previous
discussions of the unusual popularity of the name Szosze / Szoze /
Szozje / Sosze / Sose used as the local variant of Shoshana in this
same area of the world.)


- Brooke Schreier Ganz
Los Angeles, California