Oops

Many people in Mongolia have only first names. Now the country is trying get everybody to take up family names as well. There are good reasons to do this.

Odonbayar, the herder, concurred. "During the socialist times, two of my relatives got married without knowing they were related," he said. "After a big wedding party, they had children who were all deformed. Hopefully, surnames can help protect against this sort of thing."