What is the ethnic origin of the name Horvath?

Answer 1

It's hungarian. It is from a group of people origianlly connected to a person of nobility that ruled a region around a town or Hor or Har. There is a recent rumour circulating that it is connected to Croatian Jews but this is unfounded.

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If this is true then it is only partially true. The name in itself comes from Hungarian and old Croatian which simply means: "Croat"

There are cc 50000 Horvats/Horvaths etc - mainly in central Europe. Having a surname Horvath does not necessary mean that person has some Croatian lineage (although many can indeed trace it to Croatia- as I can) . During the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans term Horvat/h became synonym for the word 'refugee', hence so many Horvat/hs around the world.

And yes, when forced, many Jews adopted surname Horvat/h because it was,sort of, neutral- which itself explains why Jews would be considering this surname in the first place.

...And with time, of course, it would not be unusual that some noblemen would bear the surname Horvath (especially since Croatian-Hungarian kingdom existed/thrived- you name it- for cc 3 centuries as independent country).