The ancestors of the Kabdebó family originated from the territory of former Armenia, from where they fled at the end of the 14th century together with tens of thousands of fellow Armenians. Traveling around the northern coast of the Black Sea, they finaly settled in Moldavia. There they continued practicing their original trades and, over time, since Armenian names were difficult for the local population to pronounce and understand, they began adopting descriptive nicknames instead.
The Kabdebó family’s original Armenian name was JEZERAN, meaning “a person who works with cattle.” As they continued working as butchers in Moldavia, and since the symbol of the trade was an ox head hung above the entrance of the shop, they became known as “Cap de bou” (“Ox Head”).
In the 17th century, Prince Mihály Apafi I invited approximately eight to ten thousand Armenians from Moldavia to Transylvania in order to stimulate economic and commercial growth. Industrious and mobile, these Armenians-many of whom were engaged in trade and industry-integrated relatively quickly into the peaceful and welcoming local society, and through mixed marriages became Hungarian within just a few generations.
Many descendants of Armenian families preserved the nicknames adopted in Moldavia, merely adapting their spelling to Hungarian pronunciation. Examples include: Patrubány (patru bani - “four coins”), Esztegár (stegar - “standard-bearer”), Kápálb (cap alb - “white-headed”), Dzsokebin (joacă bine - “good dancer”), Verzár (varzar - “cabbage grower”), Vákár (văcar - “cowherd”), and others.
Over time, the spelling of the widespread Kabdebó family name also changed, and today it appears in several forms: Kabdebó, Cabdebó, Kapdebó, or Kabdebon.
The Székelyudvarhely branch originates from the Kabdebó family of Gyergyószentmiklós. One of its members, merchant Kabdebó Márton, purchased the Talpas estate in Arad County and, in 1838, received a noble charter and coat of arms with the predicate “Talpas” from Ferdinand I of Austria.
The printing house’s emblem was designed by Kabdebó Sándor, who incorporated several motifs from the family’s noble coat of arms into his work.
