The article analyzes the issues of the formation of the Kazakh people, the origin of the ethnonym "Kazakh" and the formation of the Kazakh Khanate in the research of Shokan Ualikhanov. The scientist was particularly interested in the ethnonym "Kazakh", the etymology of tribes, and information about the processes and stages of the formation of the Kazakh people. According to Sh. Ualikhanov, the term "Kazakh" existed until the Turkic period and was used to denote "free and wanderer." Sh. Ualikhanov attached a specific ethno-social meaning to the term that he argued had developed over time. The conclusions of the scientist on this question were close to the truth compared to the results of the scientists before and after him. His research on the origin of the Kazakh people and the establishment of the Kazakh Khanate was based on specific conclusions that he studied during his studies in the cadet corps, and then developed in his research "Kazakh genealogy" and others.