Kazakhstan is a very ethnically diverse country. We’ve used a non-supervised clustering algorithm to identify Russian (иванов, попов), Korean (ким, пак, цой) and other names in Kazakhstan and differentiate them from ethnic Kazakh names.
Here are some typical Kazakh male names with their Cyrillic variants :
| Kazakh male name | Cyrillic Variant | Romanized name | Romanization variant(s) |
| АЗАМАТ АБДРАХМАНОВ | AZAMAT ABDRAKHMANOV | ||
| ЕРЛАН АХМЕТОВ | ERLAN AHMETOV | ||
| КАЙРАТ ИБРАЕВ | КАЫРАТ ЫБРАЕВ | KAIRAT IBRAEV | KAYRAT YBRAEV |
| МАРАТ ИСКАКОВ | МАРАТ ЫСКАКОВ | MARAT ISKAKOV | MARAT YSKAKOV |
| НУРЛАН ОМАРОВ | NURLAN OMAROV | ||
| РУСЛАН ОСПАНОВ | RUSLAN OSPANOV | ||
| СЕРИК СУЛЕЙМЕНОВ | СЕРЫК СУЛЕЫМЕНОВ | SERIK SULEYMENOV | SERYK SULEYMENOV |
Here are some typical Kazakh female names with their Cyrillic variants :
| Kazakh female name | Cyrillic Variant | Romanized name | Romanization variant(s) |
| АЙГУЛЬ АБДРАХМАНОВА | АЫГУЛ АБДРАХМАНОВА | AIGUL ABDRAKHMANOVA | AYGUL ABDRAKHMANOVA |
| АЛИЯ АХМЕТОВА | АЛЫЯ АХМЕТОВА | ALIA AHMETOVA | ALIA AKHMETOVA |
| ДИНАРА ИБРАЕВА | ДЫНАРА ЫБРАЕВА | DINARA IBRAEVA | DINARA IBRAYEVA |
| САУЛЕ ИСКАКОВА | САУЛЕ ЫСКАКОВА | SAULE ISKAKOVA | |
| АСЕЛЬ ОМАРОВА | АСЕЛ ОМАРОВА | ASEL OMAROVA | |
| ГУЛЬМИРА ОСПАНОВА | ГУЛМЫРА ОСПАНОВА | GULMIRA OSPANOVA | |
| ЖАНАР САДЫКОВА | ZHANAR SADYKOVA | ZHANAR SADIKOVA | |
| ГУЛЬНАРА СМАГУЛОВА | ГУЛНАРА СМАГУЛОВА | GULNARA SMAGULOVA |
We have crossed-referenced those names with those found in “Kazakh names”, a onomastics book from soviet times dated 1983 (link here). Unfortunately, many of those names are widely shared in the region. So the machine learning / classification rely on the use of both given and family names for deambiguation.
Still, as of today, we are still working on improvements to NamSor API in order to better distinguish Kazakh names from names of Kyrgyzstan, Tatar names of Tatarstan, Bashkir names of Bashkortostan or other names found in geographically close republics and subjects of the Russian Federation. We will either produce a specific taxonomy for names in Cyrillic of former Soviet countries, or create a sub-classification for the Russian Federation (similar to what we did for Indian names). Please keep updated on this effort, if you have an interest in the region.
Our previous work on Kazakh names was back in 2014, when we had the idea of searching a large archive of digital audio based in Paris (the Institut des Archives Sonores). This project was unfortunately cancelled at the time.
The illustration of this article was generated by the AI Dall-E with caption : “Oil painting of Kazakh rider on a horse in the steppe”. Here are some variations too,
About NamSor
NamSor™ Applied Onomastics is a European vendor of sociolinguistics software (NamSor sorts names). NamSor mission is to help understand international flows of money, ideas and people. We proudly support Gender Gap Grader.