Category·Character, virtue and appearance·319 surnames
Appearance, body and strength
- Surnames
- 319
- in this dictionary
- Most common
- Acar
How did these surnames come about?
Article 14 of the Surname Regulation, in its 1934 text, says that if unrelated families in the same village, town or city chose the same surname, the first applicant kept it and the others had to change theirs. Those who refused were to be told apart by an adjective such as büyük (big) or küçük (small), or by another addition. Big and small are size words. This hub gathers exactly that kind of word: words for size, looks and strength.
Size and looks
Uzun (tall, long) and kısa (short) are the most basic size words in Turkish. İri means “large-built”, and gürbüz “sturdy, well-grown”; TDK gives gürbüz as an adjective used especially of children. Güzel, “beautiful”, is an old Turkish word. Some of these words may have served as family nicknames before 1934. Any such nickname can only be shown from documents.
Strength
Güçlü is güç, “strength”, plus -lü: “strong, powerful”. Pehlivan is Persian in origin and means “wrestler” as well as “big, strong man”. Body words such as bilek (wrist) and yumruk (fist) can also belong here for their sense of strength.
Compounds with body words
The most productive pattern here joins an adjective to a body word. In Kocabaş “big head” and Akbaş “white head”, baş, “head”, comes last. Karagöz joins kara and göz: “dark-eyed”. TDK also gives Karagöz as the name of the main character of the traditional shadow play; any link between a surname and the play needs a source. Akkol, “white arm”, has the same build. Forms containing a number, such as Kırkgöz, are also linked to the numbers hub.
Harmony and form
In Güçlü the suffix -lü follows the ü of the stem. In compounds like Kocabaş and Karagöz each word keeps its own sounds; in Karagöz the back a vowels are followed by a front ö. Esmer, as a colour word, sits with the colours.
Boundaries
Mocking nicknames or words for a bodily condition, such as Topal (lame), Çolak (one-armed), Kör (blind), Kel (bald) and Deli (mad), are kept in a separate hub. Names that contain a body word but express courage, such as Gözüpek and Yürekli, are in the courage hub. What remains here is neutral or positive description of looks and strength.
Why it is interesting
This hub speaks the same language as the Regulation's rule for telling names apart: big, small, tall, short. Whether a given surname came from that rule or from a nickname, however, cannot be said without the records of individual families.
All surnames in this category
| # | Surname | Meaning | Origin | Rank | Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Acar | bold, vigorous, capable | Arabic | 28 | 4 |
| 02 | Ablak | round-faced | Arabic | – | 5 |
| 03 | Açıkbaş | bare-headed | Turkic | – | 7 |
| 04 | Ağım | instep | Turkic | – | 4 |
| 05 | Ahsen | most beautiful, finest | Arabic | – | 5 |
| 06 | Akbaş | white-headed | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 07 | Akbaşlı | white-headed | Turkic | – | 7 |
| 08 | Akbaşoğulları | sons of Akbaş (‘white head’) | Turkic | – | 13 |
| 09 | Akdiş | white-toothed | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 10 | Akgöz | white eye | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 11 | Akkanat | white wing | Turkic | – | 7 |
| 12 | Akkaş | white-browed | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 13 | Akkemik | white bone, sound stock | Turkic | – | 7 |
| 14 | Aksakal | village elder; white-bearded | Turkic | – | 7 |
| 15 | Aksakallı | white-bearded | Turkic | – | 9 |
| 16 | Akşin | fair-skinned, pale | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 17 | Alagöz | hazel-eyed | Turkic | – | 6 |
| 18 | Algöz | red eye | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 19 | Alın | forehead; front | Turkic | – | 4 |
| 20 | Alsaç | red-haired | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 21 | Alten | rosy-skinned | Persian | – | 5 |
| 22 | Altınbilek | golden wrist, strong arm | Turkic | – | 10 |
| 23 | Altıparmak | six-fingered | Turkic | – | 10 |
| 24 | Altunbaş | golden head | Turkic | – | 8 |
| 25 | Altunkulak | golden ear | Turkic | – | 10 |
| 26 | Alyanak | rosy-cheeked | Turkic | – | 7 |
| 27 | Arık | pure, clean; or lean | Turkic | – | 4 |
| 28 | Arış | forearm; warp | Turkic | – | 4 |
| 29 | Atik | nimble; noble, ancient | – | 4 | |
| 30 | Aykanat | moon-bright wing | Turkic | – | 7 |
| 31 | Ayten | moon-bodied, moon-skinned | Persian | – | 5 |
| 32 | Azman | overgrown, huge | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 33 | Bacakoğlu | son of “Leg” | Turkic | – | 9 |
| 34 | Bakırbaş | copper-headed, red-haired | Turkic | – | 8 |
| 35 | Bakış | look, glance | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 36 | Balaban | bittern; reed pipe; hefty | Persian | – | 7 |
| 37 | Başıbüyük | big-headed; of standing | Turkic | – | 9 |
| 38 | Başkol | leading column | Turkic | – | 6 |
| 39 | Bediz | adornment | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 40 | Bedük | big (old form); resin | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 41 | Bel | waist; mountain pass | Turkic | – | 3 |
| 42 | Benek | spot, speck; freckle | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 43 | Benler | moles, beauty spots | Turkic | – | 6 |
| 44 | Benli | having a mole | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 45 | Berk | firm, strong | Turkic | – | 4 |
| 46 | Berkman | very sturdy, strong man | Turkic | – | 7 |
| 47 | Bıyıklıoğlu | son of the moustached one | Turkic | – | 11 |
| 48 | Bilek | wrist; strength | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 49 | Bodur | short and stocky | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 50 | Boduroğlu | son of Bodur (“the stocky one”) | Turkic | – | 9 |
| 51 | Boydağ | tall as a mountain | Turkic | – | 6 |
| 52 | Boysan | tall, handsome young man | Turkic | – | 6 |
| 53 | Bozbaş | grey-headed | Turkic | – | 6 |
| 54 | Büker | one who bends | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 55 | Büyük | big, great; elder | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 56 | Büyükakinci | the great (elder) raider | Turkic | – | 11 |
| 57 | Büyükaşık | the great minstrel | Arabic | – | 9 |
| 58 | Büyükciğer | big-hearted, gutsy | Persian | – | 10 |
| 59 | Büyükdoğan | great falcon; born great | Turkic | – | 10 |
| 60 | Büyüktortop | big and round | Turkic | – | 11 |
| 61 | Camgöz | glass-eyed; sharp-eyed | Turkic | – | 6 |
| 62 | Ceylan | gazelle | Mongolic | – | 6 |
| 63 | Civan | young and handsome | Persian | – | 5 |
| 64 | Çabuk | quick, nimble | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 65 | Çamkıran | pine-breaker | Turkic | – | 8 |
| 66 | Çehre | face, countenance | Persian | – | 5 |
| 67 | Çehreli | with a (fair) face | Persian | – | 7 |
| 68 | Çelikbaş | steel-headed | Turkic | – | 8 |
| 69 | Çelikbilek | steel-wristed, strong | Turkic | – | 10 |
| 70 | Çelikkol | arm of steel | Turkic | – | 8 |
| 71 | Çelim | strength, vigour | Turkic | – | 5 |
| 72 | Çene | jaw, chin; talkativeness | Persian | – | 4 |
| 73 | Çevik | agile, nimble | Persian | – | 5 |
| 74 | Çevikel | nimble hand; agile | Turkic | – | 7 |
| 75 | Çevikelli | nimble-handed | Turkic | – | 9 |
| 76 | Çeviker | nimble hero | Turkic | – | 7 |
| 77 | Çeviköz | nimble at heart | Turkic | – | 7 |
| 78 | Çeviksoy | agile lineage | Turkic | – | 8 |
| 79 | Çıray | countenance, face | Mongolic | – | 5 |
| 80 | Çil | freckle; speckled | Turkic | – | 3 |
Common questions
- Do surnames like Uzun come from nicknames?
Some may have been family nicknames before 1934, but only documents can show it. The surname itself proves nothing.
- What does Karagöz mean?
It joins kara and göz: “dark-eyed”. TDK also gives Karagöz as the shadow-play hero; a link to the surname needs a source.
- Why are Topal and Kel not in this hub?
Mocking nicknames and words for a bodily condition have their own hub. This one covers neutral or positive words for looks.
Sources
- 1Türk Dil Kurumu, TDK Güncel Türkçe Sözlük
- 2Sevan Nişanyan, Nişanyan Sözlük
- 3T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr), Soyadı Nizamnamesi (Bakanlar Kurulu Kararı 2/1759)
- 4Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) · ADNKS, TÜİK Nüfus İsim Portalı: En çok kullanılan soyisimler (ADNKS)