Is Genghis Khan a name or title?

by toastedlactose

For context, I'm doing some first-time research on the Mongol Empire. I've been looking into its origin and leaders and am confused about Genghis Khan, is that his name, or a title given to him? I've seen that as his name, but I've also seen it as a title. For example, Britannica Encyclopedia says he "was elected Genghis Khan", while most sources refer to Genghis Khan as his name. Any explanation on this would be greatly appreciated.

y_sengaku

This question by OP can in fact be a bit tricky than it looks at a first glance.

"At that time Lady Hö’elün was pregnant, and as she was staying at Deli’ün Boldaq by the Onan, it was right there that Činggis Qa’an [Genghis Khan] was born. At the time of his birth he was born clutching in his right hand a clot of blood the size of a knucklebone. Because he was born when the Tatar Temüjin Üge had been brought captive, for this very reason they gave him the name Temüjin.

"Yisügei Ba’atur had these four sons born of Lady Hö’elün: Temüjin, Qasar, Qači’un and Temüge. One daughter was also born, named Temülün. When Temüjin was nine years old, Joči Qasar was seven, Qači’un Elči was five, Temüge Otčigin was three, and Temülün was still in the cradle" (Secret History of the Mongols, Lines 59-60. The translation is taken from [Rachewiltz (trans.): 2015: 12].

This is how The Secret History of the Mongols, allegedly recorded by the end of the reign of his son, Ögedei Khan (d. 1241), narrates the birth of the founder of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan.

Basic Premises:

  • Genghis Khan had been born and active as Temüjin in his early years (prior to 1206), as shown in the passages of The Secret History of the Mongols above.
  • He was also now called as Genghis Khan when he was elected to the leader of the nomadic peoples in Mongolia in 1206.

The current popular interpretation of new "Genghis Khan" is that the two proper names "Genghis Khan" together constituted a honorific title ("firm/ fierce ruler") in joint of the variant of the traditional title of the nomadic ruler, Khan/ Qa(ga)n. This idea ("Genghis Khan" together =firm/ fierce ruler) seems to have been proposed relatively recently, in the end of the 20th century, at first by Rachewiltz (the translator of the above-mentioned Secret History of the Mongols), but Timothy May, the foremost expert of the Mongol Empire also accepts it now (May 2018: 39). He also employs the following sentence as a section title in his introductory book : "Temüjin Enthroned as Chinggis Khan, 1206" (May 2019: 14).

I also confirm that two introductory books in my local language on Genghis, authored by the same archaeologist (Noriyuki Shiraishi), have shifted the interpretation of "Genghis" from primarily as a new name (Shiraishi 2007: 4) - though he avoided to go in details and just say "Khan" was his title - to the personal honorific title in joint (Shiraishi 2017: 27f.).

Anyway, scholars still agree that "Genghis" part of the title (?) was not inherited to his descendants, only belonged to him.

References:

  • May, Timothy. The Mongol Empire. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2018.
  • ________. The Mongols. Leeds: Arc Humanities, 2019.
  • SHIRAISHI, Noriyuki. Chinggis Khan: The Real History of "Gray Wolf" (Chingisu Kan: Aoki Okami no Jitsuzo). Tokyo: Chuo Koron Sha, 2007. (in Japanese)
  • ________. The Birth of the Mongol Empire: Digging the Capital of Chinggis Khan (Mongoru Teikoku Tanjo). Tokyo: Kodan Sha, 2017. (in Japanese)