The Hungarian name of the town was first recorded in 1102 as Beys and preserves the name of its erstwhile Pecheneg inhabitants, pecheneg being besenyő in Hungarian. The town appears in several documents between 1262 and 1274 as a borderguard Pecheneg settlement.
The current Slovak name of the town was given by the authorities in 1948 after Jozef Gabčík, a Slovak soldier involved in Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Deputy Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia.
Near to the village, there is the main part of the Gabčíkovo Waterworks, which is the reason for a long-term dispute between Hungary and the Slovak Republic.
History
In the 10th century, the territory of Gabčíkovo became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1468, Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus gave Gabčíkovo, then known as Bős, the right of organizing a fair. It was part of Hungary and later Austria Hungary until the Treaty of Trianon. No plebiscites were allowed to take place despite the overwhelming majority of the population being Hungarian.
In 1910, it had a population of 2823 of whom 2805 (99.36%) were listed as Hungarians (included Jews and Slovaks in the state service). After the Treaty of Trianon, more Slovaks started to move into the area. As of 2021, the population includes 5,232 inhabitants, of which 4,217 (80.6%) are Hungarians, and 727 (13.9%) are Slovaks.[7]
Genealogical resources
The records for genealogical research are available at the state archive "Statny Archiv in Bratislava, Slovakia"
Roman Catholic church records (births/marriages/deaths): 1720-1896 (parish A)