All you need to know about Mongolian names and their interesting meanings

-post updated on January 2020-

When I first moved to Mongolia, one of the things that initially caught my attention was Mongolian names and how exotic they sounded. Mongolian names are unlike any names I had heard before, so it was literally like learning a new vocabulary in a foreign language. In the beginning, trying to remember the names of every person I met was very frustrating because I would forget them very easily.

In this post, I will show you how Mongolian names work. That will include both first names, which are chosen, and last names and clan names, which are inherited. You will understand their cultural ties, their structure and how family and surnames pass along the family line. There are also plenty of examples if you are curious or are looking for super cool names for your future baby.

Mongolian first names:

Let´s start off with first names. Learning about Mongolian names is fascinating, not only because of the superstition factor that involves the process of picking a suitable name but also because Mongolian names reflect the evolution of their history and culture. You can see religion, symbolism, social changes, structure and late globalization imprinted into the names of the Mongolian people.

Methods for choosing baby names in Mongolia

Traditionally, first names are given to babies once they are born and not before. There are two main ways to name a Mongolian baby: either parents will pick their name or they will have a lama in a Buddhist Monastery decide. In any case, naming a baby is a big deal because Mongolian names are perceived as good fortune. That is why most parents will choose a name that they think will have a positive impact on their children. However, some parents just pick a name that has more personal meaning or that they just like.

Here are different types of names according to their meanings and origin.

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Nature-related Mongolian names:

name	meaning	commonly used for
Nomin	Lazurite	female
Solongo	rainbow	female
Arslan	lion	male
Od	star	male
Tuul	name of river	female

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Positive qualities in Mongolian names:

name	meaning	commonly used for
Munkhtsetseg	eternal flower	female
Munkhod	eternal star	male
Ganbayar	Steel happiness	male
Ishtumur	iron handle	male
Chimeg	ornament/charm	unisex
Misheel	smile	unisex

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Bad-luck-repelling names:

name	meaning	commonly used for
Terbish	not that one	unisex
Nergui	without a name	unisex
Enebish	not this one	unisex
Khunbish	not a person	unisex
Medekhgui	I don’t know	unisex

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Tibetan names:

name	meaning	commonly used for
Dorj	diamond	male
Suren	amulet	unisex
Dulam		female
Purevsuren	thursday amulet	unisex
Nyam Erdene	Sunday treasure	unisex

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Mongolian Historical names:

name	Who they were
Chinggis	Great Mongol leader (aka Ghengis Khan for us westerners)
Temuujin	Birth name of Ghengis Khan
Yesugei	Best friend of Ghengis Khan and
Burte	First wife of Ghengis Khan
Anu	Queen warrior of the 17th century
Ayuk	Khan from Kalmykia in the 16th hundreds

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Foreign names in Mongolia:

Sanskrit names came to Mongolia through Buddhism, which originated in India.

As mentioned above, Mongolia was heavily influenced by the USSR for little less than 70 years. During that period, Russian names became very popular.

Today, I am told that upper class Mongolians like to use English sounding names for their children. My guess would be that, as English is the current language to communicate internationally (sorry, Esperanto) and easier for our globalised world.

name	origin
Oktyabri	Russian
Gagarin	Russian
Michelle	English
Adiya	Sanskrit
Anand	Indian

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Other aspects of Mongolian first names

Gender identification in Mongolian names:

You may have noticed the following endings in some of the above examples: Tsetseg, Baatar, Erdene, Tuya… Some of these endings will automatically tell you whether the person is male or female. Tsetseg means flower and it is an ending reserved for women, whereas Baatar, which means warrior, is reserved for men. Other endings are gender-neutral, like Jargal, and they are used by both males and females.
There are also suffixes that traditionally are male or female and have been added to Mongolian names. Some examples are -maa, which means mother in Tibetan, or -jin.

Mongolian short names:

Most Mongolians with a rather long name, for example compound names, use a shorter version. This is usually done by picking one of the words that make up their name and then adding a vowel at the end. For example, Muugii can be shared by people named Munkhtsetseg, Munkhtuya or Munkhbaatar. That is why some males and females share the same short name.

Mongolian surnames or last names

Surnames were not a thing in Mongolia until the Russians came around. Mongolian surnames follow a patrilineal heritage, meaning it is inherited from the father, but in a very different fashion as us, westerners, are used to. They are formed following the Russian patronymic style, using their own father’s first name as a surname (although in Russia the father’s name will become a middle name). Because of this system, Mongolian surnames only last one generation.

The spouse does not take her husband’s last name upon marriage, either. Only siblings will share their father’s name as a surname.

Mongolian family names or clan names

Family or clan names are called ovog. They weren’t really part of Mongolians’ legal names until recently, but they had been previously used in during the middle ages. They are considered to be the proper lineage name as opposed to surnames. In the mid-90s the recent democratic government made it compulsory for families to have a clan name. This clan name had to be a representation of family origin and it could either be a tribal name or a location.

A friend of mine recalls how her family gathered after Tsaagan Sar to talk about what their family name would be. Eventually, her grandfather decided their name would be Lamiin Gegeenten, due to family roots connected to a Buddhist monastery in their home province.

Like most people I have asked, I have failed to understand the importance of having your family name as part of your legal name in the ID card. I can only wonder if, after such a long time under Russian government control, and previous to that,  Chinese control, Mongolians felt the need to reassure themselves as an independent nation who must not forget where they come from. But this is just a guess, of course.

Mongolian clan names follow a patrilineage pattern identical to surnames in western societies. The father’s clan name will be given to the offspring, while the mother’s family name will be lost in her lineage.

As a curious note, it’s worth mentioning that the most popular family name in Mongolia is Borjigon, surpassing the second most used name, Sartuul, by more than 17 times! Why such popularity? A hint: Borjigon was Chinggis Khaan’s clan. 😉

Mongolian name structure

After explaining about Mongolian full names you probably feel confused. Let’s take my friend’s family as an example. Her nickname is Schaguna, which is the short form of Altainshagai (Golden Ankle). Her surname is Tamir, which is her father’s name. So her full name is Altanshagai Tamir, but in Mongolian, the surname goes first, so it technically is written like Tamir Altanshagai or T. Altanshagai.

In Mongolian family units, parents often pick a word or theme that their children will share. So, my friend’s brother, younger than her, is named T. Mungunshagai, which translates into Silver Ankle.

Schaguna’s clan name is Khoshuu beis, which comes from his dad’s clan name and which she shares with her brother and all male family members on his father side. So, her official name would be written like this: Khoshuu beis Tamir Altanshagai, or Khoshuu Tamriin Altanshagai. In this case, Tamriin means “of Tamir”.

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