In the 1920s, the Mongolian Communists tried to make everybody there more equal by outlawing family names. Since then, Mongolians have gone by first names only. Now that the country is modernizing, there's a law that requires Mongolians to take surnames. One problem is that most people are taking the name Borjigin, the tribal name of Genghis Khan. But Serjee Besud, director of Mongolia's state library, has written a helpful book, Advice on Mongolian Surnames, to help people rediscover more appropriate names.
Once they get surnames, they can have iPods and obesity.
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