Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

Affix·30 surnames

-türk

Turk, Turkish

Surnames
30
in this dictionary
In the national top 30
15
ADNKS 2025
Most common
Öztürk
People
586,8315
Öztürk
Position
final element

What does -türk mean?

Türk is one of the few words that works as a surname ending in its own right. Öztürk, Ertürk and Aktürk all close with it. In each case the last element is the head of the compound, and the first element says something about it.

The element is a full word, not a suffix. It therefore does not follow vowel harmony. Whether the first part has back vowels (Aktürk, Kocatürk) or front vowels (Göktürk, Şentürk), the ending stays -türk. The two parts are written as one word.

Glosses are built from left to right. Öztürk is öz ‘genuine, true’ + Türk, so ‘a true Turk’. Ertürk adds er ‘man, brave warrior’. Aktürk uses ak ‘white; clean, honest’. In Şentürk the first element is şen ‘cheerful’; in Yücetürk it is yüce ‘exalted’; in Kocatürk it is koca ‘big, great; elder’. Göktürk joins gök ‘sky; blue’. Historians use the same form for an early medieval Turkic state, but a surname page treats it only as a word.

Öztürk is by far the most frequent of these names. TÜİK ADNKS 2025 ranks it eighth in Türkiye, with 586,831 bearers.

Where Türk itself comes from is disputed. Etymological dictionaries trace the word back to Old Turkic, but they disagree about its earliest meaning. The glosses on this page rest on the present-day dictionary sense.

The 1934 rules give useful context. Article 5 of the Surname Regulation (Soyadı Nizamnamesi) states that new surnames are taken from the Turkish language. Compounds in -türk fit that rule neatly: short, transparent and made of everyday words. The records do not say why individual families picked them, and this page does not guess.

One name stands apart. Law No. 2587 of 24 November 1934 gave the surname ATATÜRK to the President whose given name was Kemal. Because it was granted by statute, it is left out of the general examples here.

A few look-alikes need care. Bozkurt ends in -kurt ‘wolf’, not -türk: it is boz ‘grey’ + kurt. Names that begin with Türk, such as Türkoğlu, have the word in first position and follow a different pattern. Reading the whole name, not just its last letters, avoids both mistakes.

Sources1,2,3,4,5

What does -türk do grammatically?

Meaning
Turk, Turkish
Function
Final compound element; the first element qualifies 'Türk' (genuine Turk, brave Turk).

Which words does -türk combine with?

suffix -türk Turk, Turkish öztürk + own; pure, genuine Öztürk acartürk + acar: vigorous, bold Acartürk ak + ak: white; clean, spotless Aktürk alp + brave, warrior Alptürk arı + pure, clean Arıtürk arslantürk + lion Arslantürk asiltürk + noble Asiltürk aslan + lion; brave man Aslantürk ata + father, ancestor Atamtürk · Atatürk baş + head; foremost Baştürk cantürk + soul; dear one Cantürk er + er: man, hero Ertürk esentürk + esen: healthy, well Esentürk gençtürk + young Gençtürk -türk Turk, Turkish öztürk + Öztürk acartürk + Acartürk ak + Aktürk alp + Alptürk arı + Arıtürk arslantürk + Arslantürk asiltürk + Asiltürk aslan + Aslantürk ata + Atamtürk · Atatürk baş + Baştürk cantürk + Cantürk er + Ertürk esentürk + Esentürk gençtürk + Gençtürk
Surnames built with -türk, grouped by the other half (30 surnames, 29 groups). The tree shows the first 14 branches; 15 more are in the list below.

All surnames with -türk

#SurnameMeaningOriginRankLetters
01 Öztürk true Turk, genuine Turk Turkic 8 6
02 Acartürk bold Turk Turkic – 8
03 Aktürk honest, upright Turk Turkic – 6
04 Alptürk brave Turk Turkic – 7
05 Arıtürk pure Turk Turkic – 7
06 Arslantürk lion-like Turk Turkic – 10
07 Asiltürk noble Turk Turkic – 8
08 Aslantürk lion-like Turk Turkic – 9
09 Atamtürk my ancestor, a Turk Turkic – 8
10 Atatürk father of the Turks Turkic – 7
11 Baştürk leading Turk Turkic – 7
12 Cantürk Turk at heart Turkic – 7
13 Ertürk valiant Turk Turkic – 6
14 Esentürk sound and well Turk Turkic – 8
15 Gençtürk young Turk Turkic – 8
16 Göktürk name of the Göktürk dynasty Turkic – 7
17 Kocatürk great Turk Turkic – 8
18 Korutürk protector of the Turk Turkic – 8
19 Koyutürk true Turk Turkic – 8
20 Köktürk Göktürk, the Kök Türks Turkic – 7
21 Soytürk Turk of good stock Turkic – 7
22 Şahintürk falcon-like Turk Turkic – 9
23 Şanlıtürk glorious Turk Turkic – 9
24 Şentürk cheerful Turk Turkic – 7
25 Tümtürk wholly Turkish Turkic – 7
26 Ulutürk great Turk Turkic – 7
27 Ünlütürk famous Turk Turkic – 8
28 Yamantürk formidable Turk Turkic – 9
29 Yılmaztürk the undaunted Turk Turkic – 10
30 Yücetürk exalted Turk Turkic – 8
Rank: TÜİK ADNKS 2025 national top 30. The list grows as surnames are added to the dictionary.5

Common questions

What does the surname Öztürk mean?

Öztürk combines öz ‘genuine, pure’ with Türk and reads as ‘a true Turk’. In TÜİK ADNKS 2025 it is the eighth most common surname in Türkiye.

Why is Atatürk not among the examples?

The surname Atatürk was conferred on the President, given name Kemal, by Law No. 2587 in 1934. As a name granted by statute, it is kept out of the general lists.

Does Bozkurt belong here too?

No. Bozkurt is boz ‘grey’ + kurt ‘wolf’; its final element is -kurt.

Sources

  1. 1Türk Dil Kurumu, TDK Güncel Türkçe Sözlük
  2. 2Sevan Nişanyan, Nişanyan Sözlük
  3. 3T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr), Soyadı Nizamnamesi (Bakanlar Kurulu Kararı 2/1759)
  4. 4T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr), Kemal Öz Adlı Cümhur Reisimize Verilen Soy Adı Hakkında Kanun (Kanun No. 2587)
  5. 5Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) · ADNKS, TÜİK Nüfus İsim Portalı: En çok kullanılan soyisimler (ADNKS)