The first authentic ancestor of the Zichy bore the name of Zayk, and this was the surname of the family until it came into possession of Zich in the 14th century. They first came into great prominence in the 17th century, being given countly rank in 1679 in the person of the imperial general Stefan Zichy. His descendants divided, first into two branches: those of Zichy-Palota and Zichy-Karlburg. The Palota line, divided again into three: that of Nagy-Lang, that of Adony and Szent-Miklos, and that of Palota, which died out in the male line in 1874. The line of Zichy-Karlburg split into four branches: that of Vedrod, that of Vezsony, and those of Daruvar and Csics, now extinct.
* Count Ferdinánd was the Austrian field-marshal condemned to ten years' imprisonment for surrendering Venice to the insurgents in 1848.
Count Ödön Zichy, administrator of the county of Veszprém, was hanged on 30 September 1848 by order of a Hungarian court-martial, presided over by Görgey, for acting as Jellasich's emissary to the imperial general Roth.
Count Ferenc Zichy was secretary of state for commerce in the Széchenyi ministry of 1848, but retired on the outbreak of the revolution, joined the imperial side, and acted as imperial commissary; from 1874 to 1880 he was Austrian ambassador at Constantinople and representative of Austria-Hungary at the 1876-77 Constantinople Conference.
* Count Jenő Zichy, inherited his father's notable collections, and followed him in his economic activities; he three times visited the Caucasus and Central Asia to investigate the original seat of the Magyars, publishing as the result Voyages au Caucase and Dritte asiatische Forschungsreise.
Count Ferdinánd Zichy, vice-president of the Hungarian stadtholdership under the Mailath regime, was condemned in 1863 under the press laws to the loss of his titles and to imprisonment. In 1867 he was elected to the Hungarian parliament, at first joining the party of Deák, and subsequently becoming one of the founders and leaders of the Catholic People's Party. His second son,
* Count Aladár Zichy, also a member of the Catholic People's Party, was made minister of the royal household in the Wekerle cabinet of 1906.
Count Géza Zichy, nephew of the Count Ferenc mentioned above, studied under Franz Liszt and became a professional pianist; in 1891 he became intendant of the Hungarian national opera-house, a member of the Hungarian Upper House and head of the Conservatoire at Budapest.
Count Mihály Zichy, one of the most conspicuous Hungarian painters, was appointed court painter at St. Petersburg in 1847 and accompanied the Russian emperors on their various journeys. The National Gallery at Budapest possesses some of his paintings, notably that of "Queen Elizabeth before the coffin of Francis Drake"; but he is best known for his illustrations of the works of the great Magyar writers.
Tamás Zichy, son of an Austro-Hungarian magnate, is reported from Forbes-Magazine to be the richest heir in Austria.
Baron Ivan Rubido Zichy de Zich et Zagorje Royal Hungarian Minister to the Court of St.James 1926.
