Wiki Wanderings: Mongolia

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, the president of Mongolia, has twenty-five children, five biological and twenty adopted. He goes by the personal name "Elbegdorj;" Tsakhiagiin is a patronymic. Hmm, I wonder what Mongolian names are like:

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'.

 

One of the top 20 baby names as of 2012 was "Ganbold," which means "steel-steel."

"Since 2000, Mongolians have been officially using clan names...on their ID cards...Many people chose the names of the ancient clans and tribes... 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)."