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Khan

 
Wikipedia: Khan (name)
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For the Mongol Derivation, see Khan (title).
Not to be confused with Kahn.

Khan (Nasta`liq: خان) is a surname and title in Asia. It can have one of several connotations, all related in some capacity to the title of Khan, which originated in Turkic and Central Asian traditions and was thereafter historically granted to Muslim rulers. Infiltration of the name in to central Asia led to the term being used also as a surname or suffix by people of the region, especially the Pashtun[1] and from them to the Muslim Rajputs.[2]; Baloch tribes in Balochistan and in Sindh; Northern Iranian Turkic tribes; Subcontinental musicians; Sudhans of Kashmir; Krrals, Dhunds and miscellaneous tribes in northern Asia. It is though generally used as a shorthand name for Pashtuns/Pathans throughout South Asian Subcontinent. In India it is referred to as name for Pathans as a caste in the same way as Brahmin or other title.

Khan is also a last name found in Tatars , a Muslim Turkic speaking group, mostly in Russia. Also been known to be part with Ghengis 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 also a family name for the descendants of people upon whom the British Raj bestowed the title Khan Sahib or Khan Bahadur.

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.[3]

Contents

Rulers, military leaders and politicians

Mongols

Afghans

Mirwais Khan, defeated the Persian Empire (Safavids) and founded the Afghan Hotaki dynasty in 1709.

Turkic peoples

Armenians

Scandanavians

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

Georgians

South Asians

  • Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Pashtun leader of a non-violent move in India during 1940s
  • Muhammad Hamidullah Khan (War Leader, politician and author), Sector Commander during Bangladesh War of Independence 1971 from Pakistan
  • Abul Kashem Khan, jurist, public leader and industrialist from Bangladesh
  • Murshid Quli Khan, founder of the Nawab Rulers in Bengal, Murshid Quli Khan was the Provincial Diwan of Bengal and ended as the Nazim or Governor of Bengal and Orissa
  • Ataur Rahman Khan, a Bengali activist politician, later Chief Minister of East Pakistan
  • Daulat Uzir Bahram Khan, (c 16th century) medieval Bangla poet from Chittagong
  • Alivardi Khan, (Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa)
  • Shaista Khan Mughal Subehdar (direct descendant of Mughal King Family), longest ruler of All Bengal Presidency 24 years in total]]
  • Asaf Khan Wazir (Prime Minister) respectively of Emperor Jahangir and Shahjahan. Also father of Mumtaz Mahal (Spouse of Emperor Shahjahan)
  • Akram Khan (politician), a politician in Pakistan
  • Khan Sahib Shahal Khan Khoso, MLA West Pakistan Assembly 1953-1956
  • Amir Khan (Pindari), a Pindari leader in the early 19th century, later the Nawab of Tonk
  • Prince Sadruddhin Aga Khan, a diplomat who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1965 to 1977
  • Prince Aly Khan, a United Nations diplomat
  • Franklin Khan, a Trinidad and Tobago politician
  • Fuad Khan, a Trinidad and Tobago politician
  • Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan's first Prime Minister who was assassinated in October 1951
  • Shah Nawaz Khan (general), Major General of the Indian National Army, one of the three of the famed Red Fort Trio.
  • Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, a Pakistani general and diplomat
  • Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, the first foreign minister of Pakistan who also holds the distinction to be the only Muslim to officiate as the judge in International Court of Justice.
  • Yahya Khan, former President of Pakistan
  • Wajid Khan, a Canadian businessman and politician of Pakistani descent

Actors and entertainers

Shahrukh Khan, Bollywood superstar.
Aamir Khan, Bollywood superstar.
Salman Khan, Bollywood superstar.

Sports figures

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

Muslim Rajput

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)

In science and technology

Abdul Qadeer Khan
  • 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"

In fiction

  • Khan Noonien Singh, a prominent Star Trek villain in an original series episode and in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
  • Khan, one of the villains in the Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars computer game
  • Jaghatai Khan, the Primarch of the White Scars Space Marines chapter in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe
  • Khan (comics), Marvel Comics character
  • Manga Khan, a DC Comics character
  • Khan, a Chinese-American detective, main character of 1975 US television series Khan!
  • Khan, a character in the 2004 Hindi language movie Main Hoon Na
  • The working title of the 2009 Hindi language movie My Name is Khan
  • Shao Khan, a fictional character in the video game series Mortal Kombat who is based on a typical Mongolian warlord

Commerce

Others

  • Fahad Khan, is the modern-day descedent to Genghis Khan. Currently residing in the United States, he traces his origins back to the Empire of Genghis.
  • 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 [8]
  • Mohammad Sidique Khan, a London train suicide bomber
  • Mohisin Khan, a British Royal Air Force airman who refused to take part in the invasion of Iraq
  • 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, an Islamic Indian scholar
  • 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 television presenter

References

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

See also


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