Is Mongol name from middle-ages a Proper First Name or Last Name at Birth?

Question

I've taken on the task of profile manager for Genghis/Chinggis Khan, having done quite a bit of research on him lately. But right away I hit a snag of how to enter names. His first and principal wife was Börte. Is that a first name or last name? In modern times in Mongolia, if a man with given name Tsakhia has a son, and gives the son the name Elbegdorj, then the son's full name, as it appears in passports and the like, is Tsakhia Elbegdorj. But they didn't have first and last names in the year 1250, and Genghis Khan's wives and children are identified only with one name. So should Börte be a Last Name at Birth (LNAB)? That seems to conflict with Genghis Khan having a son Ögedei Khan. Or should we just use the LNAB of Khan for Genghis and his descendants? The problem with that is that Khan is a title. And Khan would be a Current Last Name for wives rather than a LNAB. But do we want to give all the wives a last name of UNKNOWN? I don't think so.

Comments

Important considerations, Stephen! Thanks for raising the questions!

This information in the Help pages gives some basic guidelines ("use their conventions rather than ours") and records the protocols that WT has developed for other non-surname-using groups. There is a surprising number of them, including Euro Aristos and Native Americans....

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Name_Field_Guidelines

Cheers

Shirlea

Answer 1

Family names were not always used by Europeans either. For European nobles we sometimes use dynasty names. This is not always a great solution, but I just mention it as an option to consider.