Mongolian name

Mongolian names have undergone a number of changes in the history of Mongolia, both with regard to their meaning and their source languages. In Inner Mongolia, naming customs are now similar to Mongolia but with some differences. 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 religious figures. For example, it is said that in the 13th century, the prominent shaman, Teb-tengeri, saw in the stars a great future for Tolui's eldest son and bestowed on the child the name Möngke (meaning "eternal" in the Mongolian language). Nowadays most parents give Mongolian names to their children, often in the form of compounds consisting of two nouns or adjectives, representing qualities such as solidity and strength for boys or beauty in the case of girls. Generally, the Mongols, distinct from other cultures in East Asia, have only one personal name, which remains the same throughout their lives. While clan organization remained important among the Mongols into the 17th century, clan names were not linked with the personal name in a family name system. Clan name is still important among the Buryats and to a lesser extent among Kalmyks today. While the personal name of the living ruler was not originally tabooed, as in China, the names of deceased rulers were tabooed for several generations. In the past this prohibition was even stronger. In Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, the Mongols also use clan names. The most common category of Mongol names were those of auspicious or (for boys) manly things, such as gold (altan), eternity (Möngke), surplus (hulagu), blue (köke), white (chagha’an), good health (esen), uncle (abaqa), firmness (batu), stability (toqto'a), bulls (buqa, for men), iron (temür), steel (bolad), black (qara), hardness (berke) or nine (yisü). Such names were often combined with suffixes used only for personal names, such as -dai, -ge/gei, and -der for boys and -jin, -tani, and -lun for girls.