Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

Affix·50 surnames

-kaya

rock

Surnames
50
in this dictionary
In the national top 30
0
ADNKS 2025
Position
compound element

What does -kaya mean?

Kaya is one of the most frequent surnames in Türkiye. In TÜİK ADNKS 2025 it comes 2nd, after Yılmaz, with 899,722 people. The word is Turkic and means ‘rock, a large mass of hard stone’. Figuratively it stands for firmness and steadiness. This page collects the surnames in which kaya closes a compound.

In these names kaya does not behave like a suffix. It is an independent word and is not subject to vowel harmony. After a front-vowel element it stays the same: Gökkaya, Yücekaya, Özkaya. After an element ending in a consonant, two consonants may meet; Akkaya and Gökkaya write the k twice. After an element ending in a vowel nothing is dropped: Karakaya, Sarıkaya.

In a Turkish compound the last element carries the meaning. Karakaya is a rock, and kara gives its colour or its bulk. Akkaya is ‘white rock’, Kızılkaya ‘red rock’, Bozkaya ‘grey rock’, Sarıkaya ‘yellow rock’. The colour words often describe something one can actually see in a landscape: a rock that glows red in the sun, or a pale crag. Özkaya means ‘true, genuine rock’, Yücekaya ‘lofty, high rock’. In Alpkaya, alp is the word for ‘hero’, so the name reads roughly as ‘heroic rock’.

Some of these compounds are also place names. Karakaya, Akkaya, Kızılkaya and Sarıkaya are found as the names of many villages, hills and localities. When a surname matches such a place name, two readings are possible: the plain sense ‘black rock’, or the name of a particular place. Each surname record states which applies, where a source allows. Without a source the word meaning is given, and nothing is said about where the bearers come from.

Names that begin with the word, such as Kayacan or Kayaalp, are treated on a separate page under Kaya-. The risk of confusion here is low. No frequent surname ends in kaya without being a compound. Still, derived forms such as Kayalı or Kayalar do not belong here; in them the rock comes first and takes a suffix.

Sources1,2,3

What does -kaya do grammatically?

Meaning
rock
Function
The word kaya 'rock' as final element.

Which words does -kaya combine with?

compound element -kaya rock akça + whitish Akçakaya akkaya + white; clean Akkaya alkaya + al: red, crimson Alkaya alpkaya + alp: brave warrior Alpkaya altınkaya + altın: gold Altınkaya altun + gold Altunkaya bal + bal: honey Balkaya baş + head; first, chief Başkaya bozkaya + boz: grey Bozkaya büyükkaya + big, great Büyükkaya çankaya + bell Çankaya çelikkaya + çelik: steel Çelikkaya çetin + tough, hard Çetinkaya demirkaya + iron Demirkaya -kaya rock akça + Akçakaya akkaya + Akkaya alkaya + Alkaya alpkaya + Alpkaya altınkaya + Altınkaya altun + Altunkaya bal + Balkaya baş + Başkaya bozkaya + Bozkaya büyükkaya + Büyükkaya çankaya + Çankaya çelikkaya + Çelikkaya çetin + Çetinkaya demirkaya + Demirkaya
Surnames built with -kaya, grouped by the other half (50 surnames, 50 groups). The tree shows the first 14 branches; 36 more are in the list below.

All surnames with -kaya

#SurnameMeaningOriginLetters
01 Akçakaya whitish rock Turkic 8
02 Akkaya white rock Turkic 6
03 Alkaya red rock Turkic 6
04 Alpkaya heroic rock Turkic 7
05 Altınkaya golden rock Turkic 9
06 Altunkaya golden rock Turkic 9
07 Balkaya honey rock Turkic 7
08 Başkaya the chief rock Turkic 7
09 Bozkaya grey rock Turkic 7
10 Büyükkaya big rock Turkic 9
11 Çankaya hill and district name in Ankara Turkic 7
12 Çelikkaya rock hard as steel Turkic 9
13 Çetinkaya hard rock, unyielding crag Turkic 9
14 Demirkaya iron rock Turkic 9
15 Döşkaya rock on the hillside Turkic 7
16 Erenkaya rock of the saints Turkic 8
17 Erkaya man of rock Turkic 6
18 Gökkaya sky rock, blue rock Turkic 7
19 İkizkaya twin rock Turkic 8
20 İnkaya cave rock Turkic 6
21 İpekkaya silken rock Turkic 8
22 Karakaya black rock Turkic 8
23 Kılıçkaya sword rock Turkic 9
24 Kızılkaya red rock Turkic 9
25 Kocakaya huge rock Turkic 8
26 Köklükaya deep-rooted rock Turkic 9
27 Küçükkaya little rock Turkic 9
28 Morkaya purple rock Turkic 7
29 Ortakaya middle rock Turkic 8
30 Ozankaya bard + rock Turkic 8
31 Örskaya anvil rock Turkic 7
32 Özkaya true, solid rock Turkic 6
33 Pazarkaya market rock Turkic 9
34 Petekkaya honeycombed rock (village) Turkic 9
35 Sandıkkaya chest-shaped rock Turkic 10
36 Sarıkaya yellow rock Turkic 8
37 Sertkaya hard rock Turkic 8
38 Sivrikaya pointed rock Turkic 9
39 Şahinkaya falcon rock Turkic 9
40 Topkaya round rock Turkic 7
41 Tümkaya solid rock Turkic 7
42 Ulukaya great rock Turkic 7
43 Üstünkaya towering rock Turkic 9
44 Yalçınkaya sheer, steep rock Turkic 10
45 Yanıkkaya burnt rock Turkic 9
46 Yankaya rock on the slope Turkic 7
47 Yerlikaya native rock, rock that stays put Turkic 9
48 Yeşilkaya green rock Turkic 9
49 Yılmazkaya undaunted rock Turkic 10
50 Yüksekkaya high rock Turkic 10
The list grows as surnames are added to the dictionary.

Common questions

Is Karakaya a place name or does it mean ‘black rock’?

Both are possible. As words it means ‘black rock’, and the same name is borne by many villages and hills. Which reading applies can only be said with a source.

Why is Akkaya spelt with a double k?

Ak ends in k and kaya begins with one. The compound keeps both words intact, so the letter appears twice.

Sources

  1. 1Türk Dil Kurumu, TDK Güncel Türkçe Sözlük
  2. 2Sevan Nişanyan, Nişanyan Sözlük
  3. 3Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) · ADNKS, TÜİK Nüfus İsim Portalı: En çok kullanılan soyisimler (ADNKS)