where the ancestors of the Mishars lived. For the first time it is mentioned in the Golden Horde and later in Kasim Khanate. Meshchera is also an ancient Finno-Ugric tribe, although it has been also claimed that it was originally Turkic.

Linguist J. J. Mikkola thought the name might come from a reconstructed Mordvinic word meskär, meaning "beekeeper". Its connection to proto-Hungarian