On the one hand, *Särpi may be linked to Mongolic root "*ser" ~"*sir" which means "crest, bristle, sticking out, projecting, etc." (cf. Khalkha сэрвэн "serven"), possibly referring to the Xianbei's horses (semantically analogous with the Turkic ethnonym "Yabaqu" < "Yapağu" 'matted hair or wool', later 'a matted-haired animal, i.e. a colt') On the other hand, Book of Later Han and Book of Wei stated that: before becoming an ethnonym, Xianbei had been a toponym, referring to the Great Xianbei mountains (大鮮卑山), which is now identified as the Greater Khingan range ().