Names & Their Kazakh origin

Children are our joy and hope. Kazakh people have such proverb:
"House with children - full house, without - empty",
that can be exactly translated as "House with children - bazar(means: noisy market), without - mazar(grave)"

Culture of Kazakhstan.

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Names.
"Among people living in this world there are no and ever shouldn't be one who's nameless. When born, everybody - noble or miserable - with name like a sweet gift is endowed ..." These words, the essence of which has been confirmed by our life, were said by Homer centuries ago. The range of personal names Kazakh people have is very wide but is not limited by national or racial prejudices. The process of engendering new unique names is observed within centuries. Kazakh people do not have specially devised names. All names come from their life and events that accompany it. Sometimes names were given in accordance with the circumstances in which the child was born: during the roaming from place to place or in accordance with some other events.

For instance:


Amanjol - farewell
Jolay - born in transit
Maydan - battle-front

Frequently names revealed parent's desire to see in a child some certain traces of character:


Rishad - clever, reasonable
Sabir - endurant, patient
Burkut - strong as golden eagle

Female names are connected with beauty, subtlety, grace:


Aisulu - lunar beauty
Altinai - the golden moon
Meruert - pearl
Asembala - wonderful child.

The names derived from the appellations of animals are also uncommon and beautiful:


Arystan - lion
Karlygash - swallow
Botagos - camel's eye
Sandugash - nightingale

You can also come across geographical names such as:


Bagdad, Oral(Uralsk)
Altay, Edil(Volga).

Sometimes names were given to denominate the age of father in the moment of birth or expressed a wish of long life to the child and his family:


Elubai - 50,
Minbai - 1000,
Kirikbai - 40,
Juzsin - 100,
Alpisbai - 60

In many cases names were given to denominate some certain customs and traditions. In families, where children died frequently, names to the new-born children were given independently of sex:


Tohtar, Turas - stay alive
Ategen, Tolemis - returned, retrieved.

But if you came across such female names as the following, you'd turn the next page of Kazakh traditions and believes: these names were believed to influence upon the sex of the child born after the girl:


Umsindic - deceived hope.
Uljas - a boy after a girl.

Of course among Kazakh names we can find some which have been adopted from the other languages. These names taken from Russian and Jewish are perceived without changes:


Andrey, Artur, Rosa,
Boris, Marat, Raisa.

The overwhelming majority of Kazakh names habe quiet clear meaning:


Alma - apple
Sheker - sugar sand
Temir - iron

As every folk Kazakh people use different subtle names. The subtle form is made up by taking out the end of the name and adding "sh" or "ken":


Satilgan - Satish
Ainagul - Ainash
Saducas - Saken

Parents, relatives or old members of the family appeal to children with the help of words connected with names of animal's youngs:


Botam - young camel