درباره مبدا ماه‌دوران سلطان اختلاف است. به گفته سفیران ونیزی او اصالتی [[چرکسی هاچرکس|چرکسی]] داشته است.<ref>Dr Galina I Yermolenko, Roxolana in European Literature, History and Culture, pg.2, citing Navagero ("la circassa"), Trevisano ("una donna circassa") in Eugenio Alberi, ed. Relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti al Senato, ser. 3: Relazioni degli stati ottomani, 3 vols (Firenze [Florence: Società editrice fiorentina], 1840–1855), 1: 74–5, 77; 3: 115.</ref> نام پدر ماه‌دوران در اسناد معاصر عبدالله ذکر شده است که نشان می‌دهد او برده‌ای بوده که مسلمان شده است.<ref>Uluçay, M. Çağatay (2011). ''Padişahların Kadınları ve Kızları''. Ötüken Neşriyat. P62</ref> به گفته منابع دیگر ماه‌دوران دختر یک تاجر [[آلبانیایی]] بوده است.<ref>''The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire Studies in Middle Eastern History''. Author: Leslie P. Peirce. Edition illustrated. Publisher Oxford University Press, 1993 {{ISBN|0-19-508677-5|en}}, 9780195086775 p. 55 "...a slave concubine of disputed origin — possibly Albanian or Circassian — Mahidevran appears among the..."</ref><ref>''Inside the Seraglio: private lives of the sultans in Istanbul''. Author: John Freely. Edition illustrated, reprint Publisher Penguin, 2001 p. 51 "..The only concubine whose name is known was Mahidevran, identified variously as an Albanian or Circassian, who in 1515 gave birth to a son, Mustafa..."</ref>
