Asen Dynasty - Name

Name

The name of the dynasty comes from one of the brothers, namely Asen I. The etymology is most likely of Cuman Turkic origin, derived from "esen" which meant "safe, sound, healthy" and the Belgun nickname seems to be derived from Turkic "bilgün", which meant "wise". Further support to this connection can be found in the charters of the Great Lavra of Mt. Athos from the end of the XII c., which mention the monastery's problems with some of the Cuman stratiotes, where "Asen" is listed as the name of one of those Cumans.

Alternatively, the name could also be of Pecheneg origin, since that language was rather similar to Cuman, however this hypothesis is less likely.

There is also a possible link between the Bulgarian name Asen and the Arabic name Hassan. There is evidence that the name Asen has a Turkic origin coming from the Proto-Bulgarian's or Cuman's Turkic origin. Therefore both the Arabic name Hassan, which is very popular in the Turkic speaking nations and is sometimes written as Assan, and the Bulgarian name Asen can be of similar or even the same origin. See Hassan (given name)

The etymology could also be an Indo-European one. There was an older attested Latin name Asinarius.