Mongolian name

This article refers mainly to personal naming customs in Mongolia. Inner Mongolian customs are similar, but do display some differences.

Common names

Mongolian names traditionally have an important symbolic character — a name with auspicious connotations being thought to bring good fortune to its bearer. The naming of children was usually done by the parents or a respected elder of the family, or by a lama. Nowadays most parents give Mongolian names to their children, often consisting of two nouns or adjectives, representing qualities such as solidity and strength for boys or beauty in the case of girls.

Male names often include the names of elements such as 'iron' or 'steel', or other words denoting strength, such as 'hero', 'strong', or 'axe': some examples are Gansükh 'steel-axe', Batsaikhan 'strong-nice', or Tömörbaatar 'iron-hero', Chuluunbold 'stone-steel'. Names of ancient Mongolian rulers are used as well, e.g. Chingis or Khubilai.

Women's names commonly refer to fine colours or flowers, the sun and moon, or may be made up of any other word with positive connotations using the feminine suffix -maa (Tib. 'mother'): some common examples are Altantsetseg 'golden-flower', Narantuyaa 'sun-beam', Uranchimeg 'artistic-decoration', Sarangerel 'moon-light', Erdenetungalag 'jewel-clear', and Tsetsegmaa 'flower'.

Many gender-neutral name components refer to auspicious qualities such as eternity or happiness: some examples are Mönkh 'eternal', Erdene 'jewel', Oyuun 'mind', Altan 'golden', Saikhan 'fine' and Enkh 'peace'. Many names include the names of places, including mountains, rivers etc., e.g. Altai or Tuul.

Siblings

Siblings are sometimes given names containing similar morphemes, like Gan-Ochir, Gantömör etc., or names related to the same theme, like Naran ('Sun'), Saran ('Moon'), Tsolmon ('Morning star').

Names of foreign origin

Some personal names are of Tibetan origin or have come from Sanskrit via Lamaism, such as Dorjpalam 'diamond' and Ochir and Bazar (both meaning vajra or 'thunderbolt'). Tibetan and Sanskrit names of planets (such as Angarag 'Mars') are also commonly used in giving names, as are the names of Buddhist saints or sacred symbols. In Inner Mongolia, Tibetan names are usually restricted to people in their 50s and older. Lianhua 'lotus' would be Chinese. Chinese personal names (sometimes with and sometimes without surnames) are very common in Inner Mongolia.

Taboo names

There is also a tradition of giving names with unpleasant qualities to children born to a couple whose previous children have died, in the belief that the unpleasant name will mislead evil spirits seeking to steal the child. Muunokhoi 'Vicious Dog' may seem a strange name, but Mongolians have traditionally been given such taboo names to avoid misfortune and confuse evil spirits. Other examples include Nekhii 'Sheepskin', Nergüi 'No Name', Medekhgüi, 'I Don't Know', Khünbish 'Not A Human Being', Khenbish 'Nobody', Ogtbish 'Not At All', Enebish 'Not This One', Terbish 'Not That One'.

Couples whose previous boys have died, would give female names to their son to mislead the evil spirits. Synchronically, taboo meaning may be stronger or obliterated: Nergüi, for example, is very common and does not immediately raise any association, while Khünbish might semantically be perceived as khün bish (cf. the same phenomenon in German with the unremarkable Burkhart (lit. 'castle-strong')^[1] versus the unusual Fürchtegott ('fear-God')).^[2]

Customs under communism

In the 20th century, when Mongolia effectively functioned as a Soviet satellite, Mongols were sometimes given Russian names like Alexander or Sasha, or mixed ones like Ivaanjav consisting of the Russian Ivan and the Tibetan -jav. Politically correct parents may have chosen Oktyabr (October), Seseer (USSR), and even Molotov as names for their offspring. A stranger example is Melschoi, composed of the first letters of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Choibalsan.

Nicknames

When addressing a familiar person, names are shortened, most commonly by choosing one of the parts of the name and adding a vowel, melting it into one or adding the suffix -ka. E.g., a woman named Delgerzayaa might be called Delgree, Zayaa or Deegii, a man named Arslandorj might become Askaa, or his sister Idertuyaa could become Idree, and so might her boyfriend Iderbayar.

Name structure

In the Middle ages, there were no patronymics, but clan names were sometimes used in a particular morphological form.

Personal name structure in present-day Mongolia

Mongolians do not use surnames in the way that most Westerners, Chinese or Japanese do. Since the socialist period, patronymics — at that time called ovog^[3], now known as etsgiin ner — are used instead of a surname. If the father's name is not legally established (i.e. by marriage) or altogether unknown, a matronymic is used. The patro- or matronymic is written before the given name.

Therefore, if a man with given name Tsakhia has a son, and gives the son the name Elbegdorj, the son's full name, as it appears in passports and the like, is Tsakhia Elbegdorj. Very frequently, as in texts and speech, the patronymic is given in genitive case, i.e. Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, with (in this case) -giin being the genitive suffix. However, the patronymic is rather insignificant in everyday use and usually just abbreviated to an initial - Ts. Elbegdorj. People are normally just referred to and addressed by their given name (Elbegdorj guai - 'Mr. Elbegdorj'), and the patronymic is only used to keep two people with a common given name apart. Even then, they are usually just kept apart by their initials, not by the full patronymic. There are cases in which a matronymic has been legally bestowed for one or the other reason, while a patronymic is known. If the patronymic is to be conveyed anyway, this can take a form like Altan Choi ovogt Dumaagiin Sodnom with the patronymic preceding the word ovog that takes the suffix -t 'having'.

The basic differences between Mongolian and Anglo-Saxon names, in connection with trying to fit Mongolian names into foreign schemata, frequently lead to confusion. For example, O. Gündegmaa, a Mongolian shooter, is often incorrectly referred to as Otryad, i.e. by the (given) name of her father.

Since 2000, Mongolians have been officially using clan names — ovog, the same word that was used for the patronymics during the socialist period — on their ID cards. Many people chose the names of the ancient clans and tribes such Borjigin, Besud, Jalair, etc. Others chose the names of the native places of their ancestors, or the names of their most ancient known ancestor. Some just decided to pass their own given names (or modifications of their given names) to their descendants as clan names. A few chose other attributes of their lives as surnames; Mongolia's first cosmonaut Gürragchaa chose 'Sansar' (Outer space). Clan names precede the patronymics and given names, as in Besud Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj.^[4] In practice, these clan names seem to have had no significant effect — nor are they included in Mongolian passports.

Personal name structure in present-day China

Clan name

The People's Republic of China does not recognize Mongolian clan names. As a result, many Mongols from within China who have acquired their passports since 2001 have "XXX" printed in place of their surnames, while before that either a syllable from an individual's given name or the first syllable of the patronymic was used in place of the Chinese surname. Also, for some individuals, "XXX" is printed in the slot for the given name, while the given name is printed in the slot for the surname.

Some Mongolians in China do have surnames because their fathers are Han, Hui, Manchu etc. Some others use an abbreviation (like Wang, Yun etc.) of their clan name.

Transliteration

Officially, Mongolian name in China is transcribed with the SASM/GNC/SRC transcriptions (e.g. Ulanhu), but this system is rarely performed. Generally, the names in Chinese passports are given as the Pinyin form of the Chinese character transcription of the original Mongolian. For example Mengkebateer (from 孟克巴特尔) would be used instead of Möngkebaghatur (Mongolian script), Mөnghebagatur (Mongolian pinyin) or Munkhbaatar (approximate English pronunciation).

Sometimes in such Chinese transcriptions of Mongolian names, the first syllable is sometimes wrongly given as the surname, i.e. Ulanhu becomes Wu Lanfu. Onset (if available) and nucleus of the first syllable of the father's name can be used for disambiguation, but have no official status, e.g. Na. Gereltü. Rarely, the onset is used on its own, e.g. L. Toγtambayar.

List of common names

In Mongolia, the 20 most common names are:^[5]

Name	Transliteration	translation	male/female	occurrence
Бат-Эрдэнэ	Bat-Erdene	firm jewel	m	13,473
Отгонбаяр	Otgonbayar	happiness about youngest son	m	11,083
Алтанцэцэг	Altantsetseg	golden flower	f	10,967
Оюунчимэг	Oyuunchimeg	decoration [consisting of a notable] mind	f	10,580
Батбаяр	Batbayar	firm happiness	m	10,570
Болормаа	Bolormaa	crystal woman	f	10,282
Энхтуяа	Enkhtuyaa	ray of peace	f	9,721
Лхагвасүрэн	Lkhagvasüren		m~f	9,334
Гантулга	Gantulga	steel hearth	m	9,268
Эрдэнэчимэг	Erdenechimeg	jewel decoration	f	9,232
Ганболд	Ganbold	steel-steel	m	9,118
Нэргүй	Nergüi	nameless	f/m	8,874
Энхжаргал	Enkhjargal	peaceful happiness	f/m	8,843
Ганзориг	Ganzorig	courage of steel	m	8,760
Наранцэцэг	Narantsetseg	sun flower	f	8,754
Пүрэвсүрэн	Pürevsüren		m/f	8,691
Ганбаатар	Ganbaatar	steel hero	m	8,651
Мөнхцэцэг	Mönkhtsetseg	eternal flower	f	8,613
Мөнхбат	Mönkhbat	eternal firmity	m	8,612
Мөнх-Эрдэнэ	Mönkh-Erdene	eternal jewel	m/f	8,467

References

1. ^ "Burkhart" (in German). Onomastik. http://www.onomastik.com/Vornamen-Lexikon/name_1150_Burkhart.html. Retrieved 2009-04-09. 
2. ^ "Fürchtegott" (in German). Vornamen von A–Z. http://www.vornamen-a-z.de/namen/name_fuerchtegott.shtml. Retrieved 2009-04-09. 
3. ^ The traditional meaning of ovog is actually related to clans, not patronymics.
4. ^ Vietze, Hans Peter. "Mongolische Personennamen" (in German). http://www.mongoleiservice.de/mongolei__gesellschaft/mongolei__gesellschaft.html. Retrieved 2009-04-09. 
5. ^ Mongolian registration authority: Хамгийн хамгийн

Further reading

• Bürinbilig, Č. Sarana: Monggγul kümün-ü ner-e-yin delgeremel kögǰil-ün aǰiġlalta („Observations on the development of Mongolian personal names“). In: Mongγul kele utq-a ǰokiyal 2003/4: 75-78.
• Manduqu: Monggγul kelen-ü obuγ ner-e-yin učir („On Mongolian names“). In: Öbür mongγul-un ündüsüten-ü yeke surγaγuli 2005/2: 2-14.
• Rybatzki, Volker (2006): Die Personennamen und Titel der mittelmongolischen Dokumente - Eine lexikalische Untersuchung. Helsinki: University of Helsinki.
• Taube, Manfred (1995): Mongolische Namen. In: Namenforschung: ein internationales Handbuch zur Onomastik, 1. Teilband. Berlin: de Gruyter: 916-918.
• List of strange, long, short, common and uncommon Mongolian names and of the names of the oldest people (in Mongolian, contains a few Kazakh names)