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MongoliaKinship, Family, and Marriage
Kinship
Traditional Mongols traced descent patrilineally, from
fathers to sons, and recognized progressively larger and more
inclusive sets of patrilineal lineages and clans, thought of as
all the male descendants of a common grandfather, greatgrandfather , and so on. By the nineteenth century, such descent
groups had no political role, were not coresident, held no common
estate, and hence were of little significance in the lives of
ordinary Mongolians. The hereditary aristocrats based their
status on membership in aristocratic lineages (which claimed
descent from Chinggis Khan), but political office was more
important for elite status than lineage membership alone.
Lineages and clans have not played a major role in modern
Mongolian society, and it is doubtful that many contemporary
people even know their lineage affiliation. Contemporary Mongols
use a single given name with a patronymic, so names provide few
clues to common descent or kinship. There is no information on
the extent to which Mongolians observe traditional exogamic
restrictions on marriage with various categories of patrilateral
and matrilateral kin.
Data as of June 1989
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