Uar, Chinese: 滑; pinyin: Huá (for Chinese etymology see Huá (滑)), was the self esignation used by the dominant ethnicity in a confederation known to the Chinese as the Yanda (嚈噠) and to the west as the Hephthalites. It was the largest of one of the three ethnic components constituting the Hephthalite federation. Peoples with similar ethnicons had been present along the Silk Road for centuries, and several of the Central European family names actually derive from the names of such tribes. The Chinese classic Liang Zhigongtu describes them as originating in the Hua (state) (cf. Mongolia). Simokattes's term Uar is also sometimes written War or Var. The variation Huá (滑), is the name the Hephthalite polity used of themselves according to the Chinese classic Liang chih-kung-t'u.