Khan (surname)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Khan (name))
Jump to: navigation, search
For the Mongol Derivation, see Khan (title).
Not to be confused with Kahn.

Khan (Urdu: خان, Hindi: ख़ान, Bengali: খ়ান) is a surname and title of Central Asian origin, primarily found in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.

Contents

[edit] Origin

It can have one of several connotations, all related in some capacity to the title of Khan, which originated from the Mongol Empire and its subjects and was thereafter historically granted to Muslim rulers. Infiltration of the name from Central Asia into South Asia happened with the coming of the various Muslim Turks, Baloch Peoples, and Mughals into South Asia who used this name as a title as well as a suffix to indicate their ethnic identity.[1][2]

[edit] Communities using Khan as a surname

The communities that use the surname Khan include the Afghans, Mughals, Turkic peoples in Central Asia, Northern Pakistan and Northern Iran; tribes in Pakistan India, bangladesh Baloch tribes in Balochistan and in Sindh and various Mongol, Turks and Tatar tribes in central and northern Asia.

[edit] As a title

As a title, Khan has historically been used mainly by the Mongols and Turkic rulers and chieftains. It has also been adopted by Pashtuns in the former Afghan territories of the current North West Frontier Province of Pakistan where the division of regions into Khanates has exited from early Muslim period e.g. the various Khanates in Swat, Hazara and Peshawar districts.[3] As Pusthuns are from the children of ishaq, there is an element of relation between the Jewish surname Kahn or cohen. Khan is mainly used by the Pushtuns. The British Raj continued the Mughal practice of awarding titles such as Khan Bahadur for Muslims and Rai Bahadur for Hindus.

[edit] Other Usage

Khan is also a last name found in Tatars, a Muslim Turkic speaking group, mostly in Russia. Also been known to be part with Genghis Khan's army. The name Khan has also been used by the Peoples of the Caucasus since the region has a history of Turkic and Mongolic rulers.

It is now a widespread surname in most countries of Central and South Asia. Khan is the surname of over 80,000 Britons, mostly British Asian, making it the 80th most common surname in the United Kingdom, and one of only a handful in the 100 most common surnames which are of neither British nor Irish origin.[4]

[edit] Rulers, military leaders and politicians

[edit] Mongols

Genghis Khan, ruler of the Mongol Empire.

[edit] Turkic peoples

[edit] Armenians

[edit] Scandinavians

  • Roy Khan, Norwegian singer, full name Roy Sætre Khantatat.

[edit] Georgians

[edit] South Asians

Malik Umar Hayat Khan as an Honorary Lieutenant of the 18th King George's Own Lancers, early 20th century watercolour by Major A.C. Lovett (1862-1919)

[edit] South East Asians

[edit] Actors and entertainers

Aamir Khan, actor, producer and director.
Salman Khan, actor, producer and philanthropist.
Shahrukh Khan, actor, producer, owner of KKR.

[edit] Sports figures

Imran Khan, popular Pakistani cricket player of the past.
Amir Khan A Briton with Khan surname who became the WBA Light-Welterweight World Champion.

[edit] In science and technology

Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistani nuclear scientist
  • Salman "Sal" Khan, an educator, famous for Khan Academy
  • Abdul Qadeer Khan, an engineer from Pakistan, considered the founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme
  • Fazlur Khan, Bengali-American structural engineer and designer of Chicago's Sears Tower and John Hancock Center
  • M S Khan (1910–1978), a Bengali academic from Bangladesh, "father of the Library and Information Science discipline in Bangladesh"

[edit] Others

  • Irene Khan, is the seventh and current Secretary General of Amnesty International
  • Alan Khan, a South African radio and media personlity
  • Hazrat Inayat Khan, (1882–1927), the founder of Universal Sufism and the Sufi Order International
  • The (unknown) 'M Khan', the subject of many gag routines on The Mary Whitehouse Experience because of long-standing graffiti visible from a major London road[9]
  • Mohammad Sidique Khan, a London train suicide bomber
  • Noor Inayat Khan, a British spy in occupied France
  • Peter Khan, an Australian born Afghan-Khan, member of the Universal House of Justice
  • Sussanne Roshan (Suzanne Roshan-Khan), an Indian interior designer, wife of Hrithik Roshan, and sister of Zayed Khan
  • Gauri Khan (Wife of Bollywood Superstar Shah Rukh Khan)
  • Syed Ahmed Khan (1817–1898), an Islamic scholar
  • Ahmed Raza Khan (1856 –1921), an Sunni Islamic Scholar of south Asia
  • Vilayat Inayat Khan, (1916–2004), former head of the Sufi Order International
  • Zia Inayat Khan, the Pir of the Sufi Order International
  • Tasmin Lucia Khan, British Bangladeshi television presenter
  • Prof. Omer Salim Khan (Omer Tarin), Pakistani poet, writer, scholar and mystic.
  • Tariq Ali Khan, well-known British-Pakistani writer, intellectual and Socialist.

[edit] Fictional characters

  • Khan, one of the villains in the Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars computer game
  • Khan, a Chinese-American detective from the Khan! 1975 US television series
  • Khan (comics), Marvel Comics character
  • Jaghatai Khan, the Primarch of the White Scars Space Marines chapter in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe
  • Kamal Khan, the main villain in the James Bond film Octopussy
  • Manga Khan, a DC Comics character
  • Rizwan Khan, main character in the 2010 Bollywood film My Name Is Khan
  • Shao Khan, the main antagonist in the Mortal Kombat video game series who is based on a typical Mongolian warlord
  • Khan Noonien Singh, a prominent Star Trek villain in an original series episode and the principal antagonist in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
  • Haman Khan, a prominent Gundam villain in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and the principal antagonist in its sequel Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ; and his father Maharaja Khan

[edit] References

  1. ^ Khan entry in Hobson-Jobson: the Anglo-Indian dictionary
  2. ^ As cited in The Baburnama, 2002, W.M. Thackston p273.
  3. ^ See Imperial Gazetteer of the North West Frontier and Hazara Gazetteer.
  4. ^ Khan in the UK
  5. ^ Paul Ratchnevsky, Thomas Nivison Haining Blackwell publishing Page 197
  6. ^ China through the ages: history of a civilization By Franz H. Michael Page 137
  7. ^ István Vásáry, Cumans and Tatars, Cambridge University Press 2005, p.71
  8. ^ Asian Mythologies, By Yves Bonnefoy, Wendy Doniger, Gerald Honigsblum, pg. 337
  9. ^ Origin of 'M Khan' Graffiti

[edit] See also

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khan_(surname)&oldid=471232020"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages