Abstract: The historical evolution of Mongolia's Khoton people is studied by analyzing the ethnonym 'Khoton' through multilingual sources to systematically investigate its etymology and the construction of Khoton identity. The results demonstrate that demographic relocations under the Dzungar Khanate and religious boundary-making practices are pivotal in the historical articulation of Khoton ethnicity. During Mongolia's modern nation-state building, the ethnonym 'Khoton' undergoes a gradual transition from exonym to autonym through processes of cultural integration and identity reconstruction. This transformation reveals that the delineation of ethnic identity involves both self-perception construction and external sociopolitical shaping, ultimately emerging as a dialectical negotiation through historical intergroup dynamics between the in-group and out-group.

Key words: Mongolia, Khoton, ethnic designation, ethnic construction