George Pólya was born in Budapest on 13 December 1887. His father Jakab (who died in 1897) had been born Jakab Pollák, of Jewish parents, and with a surname which suggested Polish origin. It is likely that ancestors had emigrated from Poland to Hungary, where a lesser degree of anti-Semitism existed. However Jakab converted to Catholicism believing that this would help him advancing in a career and changed his name to the more Hungarian Pólya. George’s mother had also been of Jewish background with similar history. Her paternal grandfather, Max Deutsch, had in fact converted to Presbyterianism and worshipped with Greek Orthodox Romanians.