Chughtai

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Chughtai is a family name in portions of Asia, Middle East and the associated diaspora that claims descent from Chagatai Khan (the second son of Genghis Khan)[1]. It was also the name of a tribe (claiming the same lineage) in what is now modern Saudi Arabia[citation needed].

[edit] Origin of the name

Chughtai is a distorted form of Chaghadai which is a version of Chagan (white) formed using the –dai suffix as described in "On the Documentation and Construction of Period Mongolian Names" by Baras-aghur Naran[2]; it defines Chaghadai as he who is white.[3]

In South Asia and its environs, the names of (especially) male members of the Chughtai family/clan sometimes carry the prefix Mirza and the suffix Beg, and are thus usually of the form Mirza (given name) Beg. These honorific names refer to the historic royal lineage of the Chagatai Turks (from Chagatai Khan). The Mughal Emperors of India claimed to be of the same lineage[4]. Babur consciously made a decision to drop the Mirza from his name[citation needed]. The names of minor (and sometimes even major) princes of the dynasty continued to carry the prefix and/or the suffix. The nomenclature is still in use today, though Chughtai as family name is relatively more common.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Chagatai Khanate - The Islamic World to 1600 @ The University of Calgary
  2. ^ Period Mongolian Names - On the Documentation and Construction of Period Mongolian Names
  3. ^ Chaghadai - Æthelmearc Internal Letter of Intent Æ72
  4. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica