Binnaks were members of multinational communities living in Ukraine, Poland, Southern Russia and other eastern European counties. There is some confusion over the spelling of the Binak name, with some preferring one 'n' and some '2' ('Binak' or 'Binnak'). This has reportedly been a source of in fighting between "Binnaks" born in the Polish mainland and those born in Ukraine- with the former preferring the double 'n' spelling. Towards the end of the 17th century the Binnak people disseminated across Europe and faced persecution much in the same way that the Romani population did.