Chingis and Chingiz: A Plant and a Conqueror
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2026.3.17Keywords:
naming practices, Tuvans, Genghis Khan, Chingis, Chingiz, Tuvan language, historical memoryAbstract
The article examines the practice of naming Tuvan children with the names Chingis and Chingiz at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, in the context of historical memory of Genghis Khan and the transformation of the traditional anthroponymic system of Tuva. These names are now almost exclusively perceived as references to the Mongol conqueror and a symbol of steppe statehood, although the Tuvan Chiŋgis originally functioned as a botanical term meaning “moss” and served as the basis for predominantly female names such as Chiŋgis and Chiŋgispеy. The source base includes lexicographic and etymological dictionaries, scholarly works on the history and ethnography of Tuva, media materials, as well as a dataset from the civil registry offices of the Republic of Tuva on name registration for the period 1990–2025.
The study reconstructs the levels at which the image of Genghis Khan is present in contemporary cultural life of Tuva: academic, museum and exhibition, tourism and branding, political-symbolic, folk-legendary, cultural-creative, and anthroponymic. It is noted that the cult of Genghis Khan and related figures (e.g., Subedei) plays a significant role in Tuvan self-identification and in shaping models of heroic masculinity. The article provides a detailed description of traditional naming rituals and their transformation in the post-Soviet period, when parents gained greater freedom of choice and protective “unattractive” names gave way to sonorous and prestigious ones, including those associated with historical figures.
A statistical analysis of name dynamics reveals a peak in the popularity of Chingis/Chingiz in the 1990s amid a rise in national-patriotic sentiment, followed by “normalization” and a steady decline in frequency in the 2010s–2020s. At the same time, the form Chingis (1,271 cases) clearly dominates over Chingiz (210 cases), and by the 2020s the variant ending in “z” has virtually disappeared. This trend is interpreted as a latent “re-Tuvanization” of the name and its phonetic adaptation to the local linguistic system. The authors conclude that two traditions—an older botanical one and a newer historical-memory-based one—overlap and interact, resulting in the consolidation of the name as a male symbol of heroic masculinity.
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For citation:
Lamazhaa Ch. K., Suvandii N. D., Amalbekova M. B. and Irgit L. R. Chingis and Chingiz: A Plant and a Conqueror. New Research of Tuva, 2026, no. 3, pp. 290-305. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2026.3.17
Author Biographies
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Chimiza K. Lamazhaa Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Doctor of Philosophy, Chief Researcher, Scientific Research Institute of Turkology and Altaic Studies, Farabi University.
Postal address: 71/27 Al-Farabi Ave., Almaty, 050000, Kazakhstan.
E-mail: lamazhaa@tuva.asia
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Nadezhda D. Suvandii Tuvan State University
Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor, Head, Laboratory of Ethnology and Linguoculturology, Dean, Faculty of Philology, Tuvan State University.
Postal address: 98 Mongusha Sata St., Kyzyl, 667004, Russia.
E-mail: suvandiin@mail.ru
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Maral B. Amalbekova L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University
Doctor of Philology, Professor, Department of Theory and Practice of Translation, L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University.
Postal address: 2 K. Satpayeva St., 010010, Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan.
Email: maraluspen@mail.ru
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Lina R. Irgit Herzen University
Student, Institute of the Peoples of the North, Herzen University.
Postal address: 48 Moika River Embankment, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russia.
E-mail: lin.irgit@gmail.com
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