Famous people from Kok-Jar include Choton Baatyr (Чотон Баатыр) who killed Alimbek Datka (Kurmanjan Datka's husband, and Minister of the Kokand Khanate), and Mitalip Mamytov (Миталип Мамытов) who performed the first brain surgery in Kyrgyzstan.
An instrumental politician in the increasingly decrepit Kokand khanate, Alimbek was murdered in the course of a palace coup in 1862 and Kurmanjan was recognized by the khans of Bukhara and Kokand as ruler of the Alai and given the title of "Datka".