Ahmed I
Kösem is generally said to be of Greek origin, the daughter of a priest on the island of Tinos whose maiden name was Anastasia, but these views do not seem reliable. At the age of 15, she was kidnapped and bought as a slave by the Bosnian Beylerbey, and sent to the harem of Sultan Ahmed I. Upon her conversion to Islam, her name was changed to "Mahpeyker" , and later by Sultan Ahmed I to "Kösem", meaning "leader of the herd", indicating Kösem's leadership and political intelligence.