Farkas

Farkas is a surname and given name of Hungarian origin. It is derived from farkas, the Hungarian word for wolf, and has long been used among Hungarian-speaking communities. As a surname, it is common in Hungary and in areas with Hungarian heritage; as a given name, it has appeared across generations, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In mathematics and related disciplines, the name is associated with the Farkas lemma, a fundamental result in linear inequalities and optimization. The lemma is named after the Hungarian mathematician Gyula Farkas and is widely used in linear programming and convex analysis.

Notable bearers of the name include Ferenc Farkas (1905–1992), a Hungarian composer and music educator who contributed to 20th-century Hungarian music; Gyula Farkas, a Hungarian mathematician associated with the Farkas lemma; and Farkas Bolyai (1775–1856), a Hungarian mathematician who is also known as the father of János Bolyai. The name continues to appear in Hungary and within Hungarian communities abroad, reflecting its long-standing cultural and linguistic ties to the word for wolf.