Uldin, also spelled Huldin (died before 412) is the first ruler of the Huns whose historicity is undisputed. Etymology The name is recorded as Ουλδης (Ouldes) by Sozomen, Uldin by Orosius, and Huldin by Marcellinus Comes. On the basis of the Latin variants, Omeljan Pritsak and Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen argue that the name ended on -n, not the Greek suffix -s. Hyun Jin Kim, however, argues that -in is a Greek suffix added to the name. Maenchen-Helfen considers the name to be of Turkic origin. He compares it with the names Ultinzur and Uldach and argues that it is the element *uld or *ult plus a dimuninative suffix *-ïn. He does not give an etymology of the element *uld/*ult. Pritsak derives the root of the etymon from the verb öl-, which survived in Mongolian olje, ol-jei (auspice, happiness, good luck). He argues that the middle suffix jei was originally *di + ge, thus *öl-jige > öl-dige. In place of Mongolian ge, Hunnic would then have the suffix n. He thus reconstructs the form is *öl-di-n (auspicious, happy, lucky, fortunate). Hyun Jin Kim derives the name from the common Turkic word for six, *alti, comparing it to the Chuvash form ultta. He argues that the name was actually a title and may indicate that Uldin was one of the six principle nobles of the Huns rather than a king. History In 400, Uldin ruled in Muntenia, present-day Romania east of the Olt River. The extension of his realm to the north and east is unknown, but to the west probably reached the banks of Danube where Huns had been camped since 378-380. When Gainas, former magister militum praesentalis, with his Gothic followers fled across the borders to "his native land", Uldin "did not think it safe to allow a barbarian with an army of his own to take up dwellings across the Danube", and attacked him. Uldin was victorious, killed Gainas and sent his head to the Emperor Arcadius in Constantinople. Late in the fall of 404 and in 405, according to Sozomen: "About this time the dissensions by which the church was agitated were accompanied, as is frequently the case, by disturbances and commotions in the state. The Huns crossed Ister and devastated Thrace. The robbers in Isauria, gathered in great strength, ravaged the towns and villages between Caria and Phoenicia." In 406, Uldin and Sarus the Goth were called