 Ibn Rusta was the first to record a variant of the Hungarians ' self @-@ designation ; ( al @-@ Madjghariyya ) . According to a scholarly theory , the ethnonym " Magyar " is a composite word . The first part of the word ( magy- ) is said to have been connected to several recorded or hypothetical words , including the Mansi 's self @-@ designation ( māńśi ) and a reconstructed Ugric word for man ( * mańća ) . The second part ( -er or -ar ) may have developed from a reconstructed Finno @-@ Ugrian word for man or boy ( * irkä ) or from a Turkic word with a similar meaning ( eri or iri ) . Alan W. Ertl writes that the ethnonym was initially the name of a smaller group , the Megyer tribe ; it developed into an ethnonym because Megyer was the most powerful tribe within the people . Most scholars agree that the Hungarian exonym and its variants were derived from the Onogurs ' name . This form started spreading in Europe with Slavic mediation . 
