Khatun in the context of "Great Khan"

A khanate (/ˈxɑːneɪt, -ət/ KHAHN-ayt, -⁠ət) or khaganate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. Khanates were typically nomadic Mongolic and Turkic societies located on the Eurasian Steppe, and politically equivalent in status to kinship-based chiefdoms and feudal monarchies. Khanates and khaganates were organised tribally, where leaders gained power on the support and loyalty of their warrior subjects, gaining tribute from subordinates as realm funding. In comparison to a khanate, a khaganate, the realm of a khagan, was a large nomadic state maintaining subjugation over numerous smaller khanates. The title of khagan, translating as "Khan of the Khans", roughly corresponds in status to that of an emperor.

Börte Üjin (/ˈbɜːrti ˈuːdʒɪn/; Mongolian: ᠪᠥᠷᠲᠡ ᠦᠵᠢᠨ Бөртэ үжин), better known as Börte (c. 1161–1230), was the first wife of Temüjin, who became Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire. Börte became the head of the first Court of Genghis Khan, and Grand Empress of his Empire. She was betrothed to Genghis at a young age, married at seventeen, and then kidnapped by a rival tribe. Her husband's rescue of her is considered one of the key events that started him on his path to becoming a conqueror. She gave birth to four sons and five daughters, who, along with their own descendants, were the primary bloodline in the expansion of the Mongol Empire.

The Xubu (Chinese: 須卜; pinyin: Xūbǔ; Wade–Giles: Hsü-pu; LHC: *sio-pok) was a tribe of the Xiongnu that flourished between 3rd century BCE and the 4th century CE. Chinese annals noted that the Xubu tribe replaced the Huyan tribe, which was an earlier maternal dynastic tribe of the dynastic union with the paternal dynastic tribe Luandi. The traditional system of conjugal unions is a form of the nomadic exogamic society. The male members of the maternal dynastic line were not eligible to be chanyu, only the male members of the Luandi line, whose father was a Luanti Chanyu, and mother was a Xubu Khatun (Queen) were eligible to be chanyu. A Xubu could only become a chanyu after a palace coup.

The Huyan tribe moved from the Right (Western) Wing, where the maternal dynastic tribe is traditionally assigned, to the Left (Eastern) Wing. The Book of the Later Han (chapter 89, l. 7b) stated that of the noble tribes other than Luanti, Huyan, Xubu, Qiulin and Lan, Huyan already belonged to the dominating Left Wing, and Lan and Xubu belonged to the Right Wing. The Book of the Later Han also names the dynastic Luandi tribe with a composite name Xulianti, implying a merger of the two dynastic lines.

Queen Mandukhai (/ˌmændʊˈxaɪ/; Mongolian: Мандухай хатан, IPA: [mantʊ̆χɛ́ː χátʰə̆ɴ]), also fully known as Wise Queen Mandukhai (Мандухай сэцэн хатан; c. 1449 – 1510), was a queen of the Northern Yuan. With her second husband Batmunkh Dayan Khan, she helped reunite the warring Mongols.

Töregene Khatun (also Turakina, Mongolian: Дөргэнэ, ᠲᠦᠷᠭᠡᠨ᠎ᠡ; died 1246) was the Great Khatun and regent of the Mongol Empire from the death of her husband Ögedei Khan in 1241 until the election of her eldest son Güyük Khan in 1246.