The Székelys are a subgroup of the Hungarian people living mostly in the valleys and hills of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, corresponding to the present-day Harghita, Covasna, and parts of Mureş counties in Romania, a historic and ethnographic area named Székely Land. Their origin has been much debated, but today is now generally accepted that they are descendants of Magyarized Turkic peoples transplanted to the eastern Carpathians to guard the frontier of the Kingdom of Hungary, their name meaning simply "frontier guards". They identify themselves as Hungarians, but they maintain a somewhat distinct ethnic identity from other Hungarians.
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