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Chughtai

Family name originating in the Chagatai Khanate

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated April 29, 2026

Chughtai or Chagatai (Urdu: چغتائی, romanized: Cuġtā'ī) is a surname in Central Asia and South Asia, originating in the Chagatai Khanate as taken up by the descendants and successors of Chagatai Khan who was the second son of Genghis Khan. Accordingly, some of the other descendants also use variants such as Mirza, Baig and Khan.

01Etymology of Chughtai

The surname “Chughtai” originates from the Mongolian word “Chaghadai”, a derivative of “Chagan” meaning “white”. The suffix “-dai” is added to form “Chaghadai”. Over time, “Chaghadai” evolved into “Chughtai”, meaning, “he who is white”.

02People with the surname

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Chughtai”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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