5 Trivia about Otabek’s Name
1. “Otabek“ is actually an Uzbek name.
It can be translated as “The Father of all Dukes“or “The Greatest Duke”. In middleage it was also a title for all the heirs coming from a certain lineage of Taimur.
Therefore Otabek can easily be an Uzbek and not Kazakh.
2. There are three types of Kazakh surnames:
-Russian stylized, ending in “-ov“ “-ev“, i.e. “Otabek Altinov”
originally Kazakhs didn’t have family names. Family names are for losers, they thought, and went with either one’s social status (i.e. occupation) or one’s entire lineage instead. Russian stylized family names came in late XIX century, and became obligatory during Soviet times. If Otabek would be Altinov, it’d mean that his great great great grandfather was named Altin.
-plain names “Otabek Altin“
If Otabek’s family name is a plain name like “Altin“, it is most probably his grandfather’s name.
These names first became popular in 2000′s and at the moment are the most common among new generations. You can also take your great grandfather’s name (gotta have documented proof on that) as your family name or even your farthers name, but normally that one would be included as a patronymic name:
meaning: Otabek, son of N, grandson of Altin.
-ending in “uly“ (son of)/”qyzy” (daughter of), i.e “Otabek Altin-uly“
that’s your father’s name clearly stated as your father’s name.
Otabek Altin-uly - Otabek, son of Altin. There, all set. Patronymic name is omitted in this case.
3. Short form of “Otabek“ as well as many other names ending in “bek“ is “Beka“.
Beka has a double stress and is pronounced as [’be’kah]
It is very very weird to shorten the name to “Ota“. Not saying you can’t, since there are no rules to nicknames as in with Russian names, but it’s really weird.
4. Name “Otabek Altin” might be inspired by a female volleyball player Sabina Altynbekova.
Sabina caught media's attention in 2014 after participating in 17th Asian Women U19 Volleyball Championship in Taipei. Her eyecatching looks went viral all over China's, Japan's and other Asian media and Internet, gaining her more than 300 000 followers on Instagram in one day. On the waves of her sudden popularity she paricipated in several ad campaign and also went for an internship to one of Japan's volleyball clubs.
She's still an active volleyball player and a member of Kazakhstan Women's National Volleyball Team.
5. Altin means "gold" in Kazakh.
It is also one of affectionate terms that mothers use for their children: "altinim" - "my gold", "my treasure".
However, it is unlikely that Otabek's mother would call him that, since it's kind of disrespectful for a daughter-in-law to speak her father-in-law's name out loud.
