Happy National Day of Mongolia!

[khar_muur]

Some history of Mongolian surnames


Mongolians do not use surnames in the way that most Westerners, Chinese or Japanese do. In the Middle Ages, clan names were sometimes used in a particular morphological form.

The Communist Rule forbade the use of clan names, so patronymics - then called ovog, now called etsgiin ner - were (and still are) used instead. If the father's name is 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 is Tsakhia Elbegdorj. Very frequently, the patronymic is given in genitive case, i.e. Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj. However, the patronymic is rather insignificant in everyday use and usually just given as initial - T. Elbegdorj. People are normally just referred to and adressed 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, or by different nicknames.

Since 2000, Mongolians have been officially using clan names (also ovog) on their ID cards. Many people chose the names of the ancient clans and tribes such as Borjigin (which was the clan of Chinggis Khaan and therefore quite popularly claimed), Besud, Jalair, etc. Also many extended families chose the names of the native places of their ancestors. Some chose 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. Some chose or 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. In practice, these clan names seem to have had no really significant effect, and are not included in Mongolian passports either.

Inner Mongolians often only use given names. In Chinese transcriptions of Mongolian names, the first syllable is sometimes wrongly given as surname, i.e. Ulanhu becomes Wu Lanfu.


(Slightly edited, from Canada-Mongolia Connection)