Where does the name of Gagauz Come From?      

       Those alleging that they are a branch of Oguz people

       According to Radlov, the prefix of Gag means a tribe among Oguz people. In other words, the word of Gagauz means a tribe of Oguz people.

       According to Dimitrov, the prefix of ga means the descendant in Sanskritic language. Within this context, the name of Gagauz means a branch of Oguz people.
As for Maledonov; he asserts that the name of Gagauz is rooted from the word of Gokoguz.

       Manof thinks that the word of Gagauz was not given as a historical name of a nation; rather, it expressed a family title of Oguz people and this name was given to them due to their Christianity.

       According to Ulkusal, the word of Gagauz is the name given to Oguz people who adopted the religion of Christianity. According to Çakır, one group of Oguz Turks who were named as Gaga took the name of Gagauz in the history.

       According to Tanasoglu, "Gagauz" means the hak (right) and in other words oz (real) in the ancient languag. Therefore, Gagauz means the real Oguz. Dogru asserts that Gagauz people called themselves as Hak Oguz since they recognised the Oguz people as superstitious. According to his assertion, this name was changed as Gagauz since they used the sound of G instead of H sound.

       Mensel urges in the Islam Encyclopedia that the word of Uz can be an abbreviation of the word Oguz and the word Gagauz meant gok (sky) and the word of Gagauz expressed a secondary branch of Oguz people.

       Cebeci is also convinced that the word Gagauz was derived from the works of Gokoguz.Ercilasun asserts that the word of "gaga" meant elder brother in Anatolian dialects, and within this context, the word of Gagauz meant elder brother Oguz, in other words, brother Oguz. There were also some assertions alleging that the word of Gagauz was derived from Aga-uz, in other words, brother Oguz.Those alleging that they were the descendants of Seljuks and rooted from Keykavus.

       According to Balasçaev, the word of Gagauz was derived from Keykavus. In accordance with this theory, the eastern people who pronounced the letter "K" as "G" started to utter Gagauz instead of Keykavus. However, Manof does not agree with this interpretation since he alleges that Gagauz people pronounced the letter K just like the Anatolian Turks do. Furthermore, Manof states that if it were real, the people that were the subjects of Izzeddin Keykavus should have been called as Gagauz, but they were called as Seljuk Turks. Halil Inalcik and Kemal Karpat are also convinced that the word of Gagauz is rooted from Keykavus.

       Greek Interpretation

       Greeks have alleged that Gagauz people were the Greeks who were prohibited from speaking Greek language upon the order of the ruler while they lived in the Ottoman Empire. According to them, these people then became Turko-phonic and forgot the Greek language. In accordance with this theory, the Greeks that lived in Anatolia was ordered that "Gagan Uz", with the meaning of "your language would be (Oguz) Turkish" within the structure of the firman declared by the ruler. From that time on, the Greeks that lived in Anatolia forgot Greek language, their mother tongue and started to speak Turkish. Then, these Greeks settled within the surroundings of Varna and Dobruca.

       Bulgarian Rendition

       Just like the Greeks, the Bulgarians allege that the Bulgarians were prohibited from speaking their mother tongue upon a firman of Ottoman Ruler and thus, they became a Turko-phonic nation.Despite all these various interpretations about the meaning and origin of the word Gagauz, it should be admitted that Gagauz people certainly had Turkish roots. Today, Gagauz people consider themselves as Oguz people. The most significant example to this stance is the logo of "Mother's Words Newspaper" that is issued in Turkish and Latin Alphabets in Gagauz's Place that states that "Let the Oguz people live with Mother's Words".