Mongolian Name Generator

Modern Mongolian names are compounds of meaningful words, so knowing a dozen elements lets you read almost any of them. Bat means strong or firm, Erdene jewel, Bayar joy, Enkh peace, Mönkh eternal, Altan golden, Naran sun, Saran moon, Od star, Tsetseg flower, Baatar hero, Gerel light, Zorig courage, Jargal happiness, Chimeg ornament and Tuya ray. Batbayar is strong joy, Narantsetseg is sunflower, Erdenechimeg is jewel ornament, Sükhbaatar is axe hero. Names ending in -maa (mother) or -tsetseg are almost always female; -baatar, -bold (steel), -zorig and -khuyag (armour) are male; many others (Enkhjargal, Erdene, Otgonbayar) are used for both.

A second layer comes from Tibetan Buddhism, which reached Mongolia in the 16th century. Dorj (vajra), Lkhagva (Wednesday), Pürev (Thursday), Byamba (Saturday), Nyam (Sunday), Davaa (Monday), Myagmar (Tuesday), Sodnom (merit) and Tseren (long life) are all Tibetan loans, and day-of-the-week names remain common. There are also apotropaic names given to protect a child from spirits: Nergüi (nameless), Enebish (not this one), Terbish (not that one) and Khünbish (not a human).

Mongolians do not use family surnames in the Western sense. A person is identified by a patronymic in the genitive case placed before the given name, so Batbayar's son Bat-Erdene is Batbayaryn Bat-Erdene, and Dorj's daughter Sarantuya is Dorjiin Sarantuya. Historical Mongol Empire names (Temüjin, Börte, Sübeedei, Sorghaghtani, Khutulun) are older Middle Mongolian forms and sound noticeably different from the modern compounds.