According to Pritsak, Terter is derived from a tributary of the Kura River in the Southern Caucasus.
Peter Golden considers this a conjecture which, while possible, does not seem to be in keeping with most other Cuman-Kipchak names in which geographical referents are usually absent.
During the Mongol invasion, the surviving Cuman–Kipchak tribes sought refuge in the Kingdom of Hungary (1238).
[5] According to Hungarian sources, these tribes included the Chertan, Ulasoba, Burcoba (Burčeviči), Kolaba (Kolabiči) and Terteroba, the latter which was Köten's family.
[6] According to Plamen Pavlov the Terter dynasty was a branch of the Terteroba who had settled in Bulgaria as part of the second wave of Cuman migration, coming from the Kingdom of Hungary after 1241.