Borjigin
Borjigin (plural is
Borjigid) was the
family name of
Genghis Khan and his
family. The family ruled over a united
Mongol Empire in the
13th century as head of the
Grand Khanate. In
1271,
Kublai Khan—who, as a direct descendant of Genghis, also carried the name—established the
Yuan Dynasty in China, finally taking full control of China in
1279. The family continued to rule over the Mongol Empire, China, and other parts of
Asia for much of the following century. In
1368, under
Emperor Huizong of Yuan China, the dynasty lost the country. Members of the family continued to rule over
Mongolia into the
17th century.
In the
1920s, the
communist Mongolian government banned surnames for efficiency—many had the same name, which confused tax collection. In
1997 the government reversed this, although the new law was not acted upon until
2004, when
identity cards began to require the surname. Mongolian citizens were largely given free rein over the choice of name—resulting in half of the nation choosing the family name of nationalist icon Genghis Khan.
The word borjigin derives of two different words uniting to mean one single word to identify the name of the forefathers and the few generations of the bairns of Genghis Khan. The words are originally of then days Turkish origin which combined upon bringing two words "börü" (wolf) and tigin/tegin (prince) together.
When the Uygurs, successors and/or the heir of the Göktürks, moved towards the area called Turfan, the Moghuls(Shévéys) inhabited the area which fell to the north of Ötüken (the only legendary capital of all Turk peoples live in the world who are spread to many different countries). Those Shévéy people used to tend the camel herds of the Uygurs and used to fight the Tunguz and the Manchu peoples who wanted to obtain and conduct such duty. The Kaghan of Uygurs who angered over this issue decided to send Börü Tigin (Wolf Prince), who was one of the princes in his court, along with his family as basbug (pronounced as baashboogh meaning leader) to those
Shévéy. This Börütigin family put things back in order, increased the number of camel herds and made
Mongol adopt many Turkish legends/sagas etc.
Circa 1160 near the Onon river a child named Temuchin came to the world from the Börütigin family that were at the head of the Shévéys who inhabited Ötüken which is the previous holy motherland of the Turks (now in the north east of Mongolia).
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Seattle Times*
Observer
