Naimans
nomadic Central Asian people in the X—XIII centuries; lived in Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan, Altai; participated in the ethnogenesis of the Mongols, Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Altaians, Nogais, Buryats, Hazaras
The Naiman (; Karakalpak: Nayman; Kazakh: Найман, نايمان [nɑjˈmɑn]; Kyrgyz: Найман; Mongolian: ᠨᠠᠶᠢᠮᠠᠨ [ˈnɛːmɴ̩]; Nogai: Найман; Uzbek: Nayman) were a medieval nation originating in the territory of modern Western Mongolia. They are thought to have emerged possibly during the period of the Uyghur Khaganate. The name derives from a word meaning "eight" in the relevant Turkic and Mongolic languages.
Their modern descendants are found among several Central Asian peoples.
History
In The Secret History of the Mongols, the Naiman subtribe the "Güchügüd" are mentioned. According to Russian Turkologist Nikolai Aristov's view, the Naiman Khanate's western border reached the Irtysh River and its eastern border reached the Mongolian Tamir River. The Altai Mountains and southern Altai Republic were part of the Naiman Khanate. They had diplomatic relations with the Kara-Khitans, and were subservient to them until 1175. Western European and Asian scholars classified them as a Turkic people from Sekiz Oghuz (means "Eight Oghuz" in Turkic). Scholars like Paul Ratchnevsky, Wolfgang-Ekkehard Scharlipp, Hans Robert Roemer, Maria Czaplicka, Steven Runciman, John Man, Morris Rossabi, Frederick W. Mote, Li Tang, Joo-Yup Lee/Shuntu Kuang, Hans-Joachim Klimkeit, René Grousset classified them as Turkic people.
“Naimans” enters the record as nomadic Central Asian people in the X—XIII centuries; lived in Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan, Altai; participated in the ethnogenesis of the Mongols, Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Altaians, Nogais, Buryats, Hazaras. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Naimans, nomadic and Central can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q727307. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1175.
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This entry incorporates text from “Naimans” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.