Uyghurs
Rian Thum explored the concepts of identity among the ancestors of the modern Uyghurs in Altishahr (the native Uyghur name for eastern Turkestan or southern Xinjiang) before the adoption of the name "Uyghur" in the 1930s, referring to them by the name "Altishahri" in his article "Modular History: Identity Maintenance before Uyghur Nationalism". Thum indicated that Altishahri Turkis did have a sense that they were a distinctive group separate from the Turkic Andijanis to their west, the nomadic Turkic Kirghiz, the nomadic Mongol Qalmaq, and the Han Chinese Khitay before they became known as Uyghurs. There was no single name used by them to refer to themselves, the various native names Altishahris used to refer to themselves were Altishahrlik (Altishahr person), yerlik (local), Turki, and Musulmān (Muslim), the term Musulmān in this situation did not signify religious connotations, because the Altishahris would exclude other Muslim peoples like the Kirghiz when referring to themselves as Musulmān. Dr. Laura J Newby has also noted that the sedentary Altishahri Turkic people felt themselves as a separate group from other Turkic Muslims since at least the 19th century.
Oghur (tribe)
Five non-Oghur peoples passed through the area. The Huns are mentioned above. The Gokturks formed in Mongolia in 552, reached the Volga about 588 and raided Crimea in 577. They formed the Western Turkic Khaganate. As it weakened its western part contributed to the Khazars. The Avars were driven west by the Gokturks, briefly ruled the western steppe and moved on to Hungary about 580. They were also a mixed people and absorbed many Oghurs. Some time around 800 the Oghuz Pechenegs moved to the area west of the Khazars and the ancestral Hungarians passed through the area. The Oghur lands were later inhabited by the Kipchaks.