Ügyek was born in the last third of the 8th century. Anonymus writes that Ügyek married Emese, a daughter of "Prince Eunedubelian" in 819. She had seen a divine dream of a Turul bird before Álmos's birth in c. 820, according to the chronicles. The Turul's role is interpreted as guardian spirit, who protects the baby from harm until he grows up. It is supported by the chronicles, according to whom the Turul appears to the already pregnant woman. Historian Gyula Kristó said Ügyek's name may have been the chronicler' invention, since it derives from the ancient Hungarian ügyword. It is said, speculated or at least possible that the earlier Grand Princes of the Hungarians were also descendants of the HunKhans, as well as other Turkic peoples, and through them from some daughters of Emperors of China. Simon of Kéza's Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum narrated that royal lineage that makes Hunnic ruler Attila the sixth-generation ancestor of Árpád, conqueror of the Pannonian Basin, through Attila's son Csaba, his son Ed, his son Ügyek, his son Előd, his son Álmos. Álmos was ruler of the Magyars and the father of Árpád.
Meaning of the name
Anonymus gives the name as Vgec; this caused much speculation later, as to the meaning of it. The latest research on the subject gives the following explanations regarding the origin and meaning of the name:
Ügyek - Dezső Pais, in his book of 1926, put forwardthe idea that the name is to be derived from the Hungarian word igy/egy. Gyula Kristó also shared this view.
Öge/Üge - Turk dignitary name, according to historian György Györffy. The meaning of it is "wise" and "sage", also "councillor". The word is also used by the uyghurs.
Üge - The last ruler of the Uyghur Empire, also a contemporary to Ügyek. He was murdered in 846 in the Altai Mountains. It is speculated, that when the Empire fell apart, some Uyghur fragments could have escaped westward.
Significance
There are three types of great ancestry in the traditional steppe culture.
The distant, 'spiritual' ancestor, who took an important step, but the real power of his dynasty came many generations later;
The founder of an empire, that is inherited by the descendants;
Someone important in the family tree, related to whom the descendants must define themselves.
The family tree contains both the contradictory reports of Anonymus and Simon Kézai. Majority of the historians accept Anonymus' concept which suggests Ügyek was the father of Álmos.
