Kazakhs believe that a person's name foretells and determines his or her future. Children were named by the names of their famous fathers and ancestors such as: Zhanibek, Abylai, Abai, Ybrai, or Shokan. There are also wishing names like: Mynzhasar (live a thousand years), Zhuzbai (a hundred years), and Toksanbai (ninety years) indicate the wish for a long and wealthy life.
But there are also so-called «unpleasant» names like Kushikbai (puppy) or Ayubai (bear). This tradition has an explanation to it. In the old times, when the medical knowledge was limited and life conditions were tough, baby death rate was quite high. Nomadic people tended to blame the evil forces and spirits for that. The idea was to give funny or strange names to babies (people would laugh when hearing them) as protection from evil spirits or evil people. An evil person or a spirit would be distracted by the name of the child rather that paying attention to the child himself. That was a very common in the families whose babies had not survived. For this reason babies were also named Tursyn (may he live) or Toktasyn (may he stay). Families that had no boys gave the name to a girl with a certain wishful meaning: Ultuar, Ulbolsyn (may she be followed by a boy
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Izaak, Elijah & Ty 'Bear'
Cousins (Izaak wants to name my daughter (his cousin) Isabella, Sant (for 'Santa') or Hershey (his friend's dog's name.) Hmmmm I told him that if we name her 'Hershey,' that would mean that we get to give her a lot of kisses.
Kolter Matthius Simon
Littlest Cousin......possibly. Kolter may indeed be the same age as his little girl cousin in Kaz. :)
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