Baig


Baig, also commonly spelled Beigh, Beg, Bey or Begh was a title which is today used as a name to identify lineage. It means Chief or Commander and is common in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Iran, Caucasus, Central Asia and Eastern Europe and among their respective diaspora.

Etymology

The origin of beg is still disputed, though it is mostly agreed that it is a loan-word. Two principal etymologies have been proposed. The first etymology is from a Middle Iranian form of Old Iranian baga; though the meaning would fit since the Middle Persian forms of the word often mean “lord,” used of the king or others. The second etymology is from Chinese po “eldest, lord”. Gerhard Doerfer seriously considers the possibility that the word is genuinely Turkish. Whatever the truth may be, there is no connection with Turkish berk, Mongolian berke “strong” or Turkish bögü, Mongolian böge “wizard, shaman.”
Beg was also subsequently used as a military rank in the Ottoman Empire.
It was also used during the Qing dynasty in China. When the Qing dynasty ruled Xinjiang, it permitted the Turkic Begs in the Altishahr region to maintain their previous status, and they administered the area for the Qing as officials. High-ranking Begs were allowed to wear the Queue.

Use as a name

For the Persian use, it is common to see the name Beg added to the Persian suffix of 'zada', 'zadi', which means 'son of' or 'daughter of'. For Example: Mirza Begzada or Noor Begzadi.
For the Turkish use, it is most common to see the spelling Beg or Bey utilized...
For the Mughal dynasty use, the honorific title Mirza was added before the given name for all the males and 'Baig' for the males or Begum for the females, was added as a family name. For example: Mirza Abdullah Baig or Farzana Begum. This was the historical naming convention for the descendants of the Mughal dynasty, Today, however, it is common to see descendants of the Mughals use Baig as a middle name and Mirza as the surname or vice versa. For example: Abdullah Baig Mirza or Abdullah Mirza Baig.
For the Slavic or Bosniak use, it is common to see the name Beg added to the Slavic suffix of 'ovic', 'ovich', which roughly means 'descendant of'. While the title "Beg" is not in use in Bosnia anymore, track of families of "Beg" descent is kept. But a surname containing "-begović" suffix in itself is not a clear indicator of descent. For example, there is a number of "Begović" families, some are of noble descent, some not. "Idrizbegović" would be another example of a non-noble family with the suffix. Some examples of "beg" families are: Šahbegović, Rizvanbegović, Šačirbegović. On the other hand, "Kukavica" is an example of a famous "beg" family, not containing the title in itself. The book by Enver Imamović "Porijeklo i pripadnost stanovništva Bosne i Hercegovine" details the origin of a big number of families in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
There are various other alternative spellings used today as well, such as: Begh, Begg, Beigh, Beyg, Bayg, Bek, Bik.

Notable Beighs/Begs/Beghs/Beys/Baigs

Afghanistan
Albania
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
Bosnia
Central Asia
India
Iran
Kashgar
Pakistan
Poland
Russia
Sri Lanka
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States