Her parents were Yesügei, chief of the Borjigin clan in the Khamag Mongol confederation, and his second wife Hö'elün.
[2] Temülün's name, like her brother's, comes from the stem temü or temür, meaning "iron."
[4] The Secret History of the Mongols, a chronicle of Mongol history, mentions Temülün three times: in an account of Temüjin's legendary birth[2] and twice in an episode wherein an infant Temülün and her family are attacked by the Taychiud tribe.
[5] Temülün's father Yesügei died in a Tatar attack when she was a baby, leaving the rest of the family to be raised by Hö'elün.
She had six older brothers: Temüjin, Qasar, Hachiun, Temüge, Behter, and Belgütei (the latter two were her half-siblings).