Hajdu Family History

Hungarian (Hajdú): status name for a mercenary retainer in the service of local landowners or for a highwayman from hajdú a word derived from hajtó ‘drover’. The surname is however chiefly associated with the settlement of some 10,000 mercenaries in eastern Hungary by Prince István Bocskay as a reward for their support.

Their towns dating from 1605 still retain Hajdú- as the first element. This surname is also common in Slovakia (mainly in the form Hajdu). See also Hajduk compare Haydu.

Jewish (from Hungary; Hajdú): adoption of the name in 1 above either as a Hungarian calque of the formerly used German-based surname or because the Hungarian surname (or word) has some sounds in common with the original surname.