Naimad and Ketreyid Names in The Poppy War
I went down a rabbit hole of researching names in The Poppy War series because there are some really interesting stories behind some of them.
The characters from the Hinterlands all have Mongolian names (as the region is based on Mongolia).
The two main tribes we hear about are the Naimads and the Ketreyids, whose names are taken from the Naiman and Khereid (also spelled Keraite, Kereyit, and various other ways) people, their stories seem to be more original to the series rather than based on historical evidence though.
Chaghan (ᠼᠠᠭᠠᠠᠨ) means “white” in Mongolian and Qara (ᠬᠠᠷᠠ) means “black” which feeds into their concept of being two halves of a whole, balancing each other.
The second part of their name, Suren (ᠰᠦᠷᠡᠨ), means something akin to “amulet” or “protective guardian spirit”, and is of Tibetan origins. Despite the twins sharing this name it is not a surname, but rather, a second given name. It could be the case that their mother, Kalagan, gave them the name after her niece, Tseveri’s, horrific end, wishing for protection for her own children after their cousin’s life was cut short.
Tseveri (ᠼᠡᠸᠡᠷᠢ) means “pure” or “clean”, possibly representing her genuineness and innocence which the Trifecta crushed by betraying her. The romanisation doesn’t make this clear but actually, “Chaghan” (also romanised as Tsagaan) and “Tseveri” both start with the same sound.
Bekter (ᠪᠡᠬᠲᠡᠷ) comes from the name of Genghis Khan’s half brother who young Temujin (Genghis Khan’s birth name) killed with the help of his full brother, Qasar, after Bekter stole a fish that they had caught while their family was living as outcasts. Basically, Bekter is an asshole.
The Sorqan Sira (also romanised as Sorgan Shira) is the name of one of the Nine Ministers of Genghis Khan who saved young Temujin from captivity by hiding him and misleading his pursuers to allow him to escape. Sira also means “yellow” in Middle Mongolian and can be used to describe a yellowish or pale complexion.
Kalagan I have had the most trouble with. I haven’t been able to find any evidence of the name being used anywhere as of yet. The closest and most fitting ideas I came across were by breaking down her name like this:
- The first part of her name without the common ending “gan”, kal (can also be spelled like khal) could relate to the word “khalkhlakh” which means “to protect” or “to shield” which could hint to her role perhaps as her older sister’s protector, her right hand warrior (before Tseveri’s death drives a wedge between them) and also as the protector of her children, giving them the name Suren.
- Another option could be looking at the word “Kalgan” which means “gate” or “frontier”, with the impression of a door in a barrier, it is also the historical name for the Chinese city of Zhangjiakou which borders Inner Mongolia. Historically, it served as the entry route from the Mongolian plateau down towards Beijing after Mongol troops would have crossed the harsh Gobi Desert (which I’m pretty sure is what the Baghra Desert of The Poppy War is based on). Kalagan’s name could tie into this idea of a gateway between Nikan and the Ketreyid territory that they were fighting back and forth over (and was eventually breached by the Trifecta and given to Horse Province) and it being her responsibility to defend this land and protect from Nikara invasion, which becomes ironic when she is the one blamed for Tseveri’s death and the incident with the Trifecta.
Feel free to correct me on anything, especially the Mongolian Script as I do not read it. I tried to use a Cyrillic to Mongolian Script website but I’m not sure how accurate it is so take this with a grain of salt.
