Kyrgyz Personal Names


This chapter provides an introduction to the structure of Kyrgyz names as used in the present Republic of Kyrgyzstan, including some basic historical background; and gives some guidelines for establishing authorized access points for Kyrgyz names.

1. The structure of Kyrgyz names

Kyrgyz personal names traditionally consist of two elements: (1) the given name and (2) a patronymic formed from the name of the father of the name bearer and a particle -- uulu (“son of”) for males or kyzy (“daughter of”) for females. Historically, the patronymic precedes the given name so that the general structure has taken the form:

Father’s name + uulu/kyzy + Given name of the name bearer.

Examples:

Sarpek uulu Kamyrza = Son-of-Sarpek Kamyrza

Du̇ĭshȯn kyzy Maĭram = Daughter-of-Du̇ĭshȯn Maĭram

In more recent times, the order of the elements has increasingly come to be inverted so that the structure takes the form:

Given name + Father’s name + uulu/kyzy

Note that male names taking this form sometimes feature the patronymic particle tegin (“descendent of”) rather than “uulu”.

Examples:

Kamyrza Sarpek uulu = Kamyrza Son-of-Sarpek

Maĭram Du̇ĭshȯn kyzy = Maĭram Daughter-of-Du̇ĭshȯn

Kanybek Nur tegin = Kanybek, Descendent-of-Nur

In cases where the given name precedes the father’s name, it is currently becoming common to drop the patronymic particle from the name, so that the structure of the name becomes:

Given name + Father’s name

Examples:

Kamzyra Sarpek

Maĭram Du̇ĭshȯn

The inverted form of given name + patronymic, which is the one most often used in Western-language renderings of traditional Kyrgyz names, follows the common Western pattern of given name followed by surname. Although, strictly speaking, the final element is a patronymic, it is used in a manner analogous to a surname. One indication of this is that when the patronymic particle “uulu”, “tegin” or “kyzy” is used, it is sometimes attached directly to the preceding name to form a single word (e.g., Dinar Baĭkyzy; Tynchtykbek Chorotegin). As we shall see, this has implications for how these names are to be encoded in authority records.

During the Soviet period, Kyrgyz names became russified. The patronymic consisting of father's name + the particle “uulu” or “kyzy” was converted to a Russian-style patronymic, in which the patronymic suffixes -ovich/-evich and -ovna/-evna were added to paternal names for men and women respectively. At the same time, new surnames, featuring the suffixes -ov/-ev for men and -ova/-eva for women, were introduced, so that names now consisted of three elements in the following order: (1) given name, (2) patronymic, and (3) surname:

Examples:

Chingiz Torekulovich Aĭtmatov

Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva

After Kyrgyzstan became an independent state in 1991, the Kyrgyz government undertook an initiative to promote the de-russification of Kyrgyz names. Kyrgyz people were encouraged to drop the Russian forms of patronymic ending in “-ovich/-evich” or “-ovna/-evna” and the non-traditional surnames ending in “-ov/-ev” or “-ova/-eva” in favor of the traditional patronymic form consisting of Father’s Name + “uulu”, “tegin”, or “kyzy”. Parents were given the option of giving their children traditional Kyrgyz forms of names as their legal names on their birth certificates and passports. Many parents chose to exercise this option, so that the traditional naming pattern enjoyed a renaissance, albeit with the difference that the traditional patronymic form now tended to be used as a surname and, moreover, patronymic endings were sometimes dropped entirely from the name.

Yet, russified forms of name have also continued to remain in use. People born prior to 1991 tended to retain these forms of their names. Moreover, in recent years, many citizens of Kyrgyzstan have opted to give their children russified names as being more international in nature and creating fewer administrative problems for the Kyrgyz diaspora in the Russian Federation and other Russian-speaking countries.

As a consequence of these recent trends, both the traditional and the russified forms of name are very much in use among Kyrgyz people at present. This means that catalogers working with Kyrgyz materials should be prepared to encounter both traditional and russified names in their cataloging work.

2. Creating authorized access points for persons with Kyrgyz names

Catalogers creating authority records for Kyrgyz persons are advised to keep the following points in mind:

2.1. Treatment of patronymic names

When establishing an authority record for a person with a traditional Kyrgyz name (i.e., one that consists of a given name and a patronymic), the cataloger has, in theory, two options, each of which depends on a different RDA rule.

Option A. One can follow RDA 9.2.2.19 (= AACR22.8.B.1), which stipulates that, for “names including a patronymic”, one should “record the first given name as the first element. Follow it by the rest of the name in direct order. If the patronymic precedes the first given name, transpose the parts of the name to bring the first given name into the first position Refer from the Patronymic.” According to this instruction, the authorized form of a traditional Kyrgyz name consisting of given name and patronymic would follow the pattern “Given name + Father’s name + uulu/kyzy”.

Example (in MARC format):

100 0 Kalmyrza Sarpek uulu, ǂd 1866-1910
670 Zalkar akyndar, 1998- : ǂb (Kalmyrza Sarpek uulu)

Option B. One can follow RDA 9.2.2.9.2 (= AACR2 22.5B1), which gives the instruction that “If the name does not contain a surname and the name contains a part that identifies the individual and functions as a surname, then record the part that functions as a surname as the first element, followed by a comma and the rest of the name.” According to this instruction, the authorized form of a traditional Kyrgyz name consisting of a given name and patronymic used as a surname would follow the pattern “[Father’s name + uulu/kyzy] + comma + Given name”.

Examples (in MARC format):

100 1 Ėmilbek uulu, Aĭbek
670 Kyrgyz Respublikasynyn baatyrlary, 2014: ǂb title page (Ėmilbek uulu
Aĭbek) title page verso (Ėmilbek uulu Aĭbek)

100 1 Ku̇lȯnbek uulu, Zhėėnbaĭ Tu̇rk
670 Toopir, 2009: ǂb t.p. (Zhėėnbaĭ Tu̇rk Ku̇lȯnbek uulu)

One can find examples of both forms of authority records in the Name Authority File, although examples of the second type predominate. Which, then, of these two options should one choose when constructing the authorized form of name for a person with a traditional Kyrgyz name?

The practice of the Library of Congress and other prominent research libraries in the United States is to follow RDA 9.2.2.9.2 on the grounds that patronymics in modern Kyrgyz names are used as surnames. This is certainly appropriate in the case of traditional Kyrgyz names used in the post-Soviet era, in which, as we have seen, the patronymic element does tend to take on the function of a surname. However, it may be less appropriate for people with Kyrgyz names who lived prior to the Soviet era, since before that time, the patronymic element in the name did not function as a surname but as a true patronymic name.

In light of the foregoing considerations, the Slavic Cataloging Manual suggests the following rules of thumb:

Rule 1). If the person whose name is being established is known to have been born prior to the 1920s, it is highly likely that the patronymic element in his or her name was functioning as a true patronymic. In such cases, follow RDA 9.2.2.19 and enter the name in direct order, making sure to include a cross-reference from the patronymic as a variant name:

Example (in MARC format):

100 0 Kalmyrza Sarpek uulu, ǂd 1866-1910

400 1 Sarpek uulu, Kalmyrza, ǂd 1866-1910

670 Zalkar akyndar, 1998- : ǂb (Kalmyrza Sarpek uulu)

Rule 2). If the person whose name is being established is, or was, living in the post-Soviet era, it is highly likely that the patronymic element in his or her name is being used as a surname. In such cases, follow RDA 9.2.2.9.2 and enter under (the patronymic used as) a surname, adding a reference from the direct-entry form of the name.

100 1 Ku̇lȯnbek uulu, Zhėėnbaĭ Tu̇rk

400 0 Zhėėnbaĭ Tu̇rk Ku̇lȯnbek uulu

670 Toopir, 2009: ǂb t.p. (Zhėėnbaĭ Tu̇rk Ku̇lȯnbek uulu)

If in doubt, use the second option and follow RDA 9.2.2.9.2.

Note that names of Kyrgyz people following the russified pattern of patronymic and surname are entered under surname, followed by given name and patronymic.

Example (in MARC format):

100 1 Masakov, Kanybek Saktanovich

400 1 Масаков, Каныбек Сактанович

400 1 Masakov, K. S.

400 1 Масаков, К. С.

670 Masakov, Kanybek Saktanovich. Kyrgyz khandygy XVIII-XIX-kk, 2011: ǂb

t.p. (Каныбек Сактанович Масаков = Masakov Kanybek Saktanovich)

cover (Масаков К.С. = Masakov K.S.)

2.2. Treatment of patronymic particles

Although the words used to form patronymics (e.g., “uulu”, “kyzy”) are often written as separate words, they form a single unit with the preceding name of the father and should not, under any circumstances, be treated as a separate and distinct element of the name. In particular, because these are generic words (“son” and “daughter”, respectively), they should never form the first element in a name:

Example (in MARC format):

100 1 Ku̇lȯnbek uulu, Zhėėnbaĭ Tu̇rk

400 1 Uulu, Zhėėnbaĭ Tu̇rk Ku̇lȯnbek [Incorrect]

670 Toopir, 2009: ǂb t.p. (Zhėėnbaĭ Tu̇rk Ku̇lȯnbek uulu)

Note that if a cataloger uses a macro to create an authority record, the macro will generally treat such names as compound names and will automatically supply additional variant access points in which the first element is a patronymic formant such as “uulu” or “kyzy”. Such variant access points should be deleted from the record.


Sources used:


Revised: Oct. 27, 2016