Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

Category group·528 surnames

Nature and landscape

Surnames
528
in this dictionary
In the national top 30
75
ADNKS 2025
Most common
Kaya
People
899,7225
Kaya

How did these surnames come about?

Look out of a window in 1934 and the candidates are obvious: rock, stream, plane tree, cloud, star. Words like these make the nature group one of the largest parts of the Turkish surname stock, and the reason lies in the words themselves. They are short, familiar, positive and unmistakably part of everyday Turkish.

The Surname Law (Law No. 2525), adopted in June 1934, required every Turk to carry a surname alongside the given name. The Surname Regulation of December 1934 added in its Article 5 that new surnames are taken from the Turkish language. Landscape words met that principle without effort. Still, the group also holds words of Persian origin such as gül, bahçe and derya, and Arabic ones such as nur. They had long been ordinary Turkish vocabulary.

The nine subgroups

  • Mountains, rocks and stones: Kaya, Taş, Karakaya, Yalçın.
  • Water, sea and rivers: Deniz, Pınar, Aksu.
  • Plains, highlands and countryside: Ova, Yayla, Bozkır.
  • Trees and forest: Çınar, Meşe, Fidan.
  • Flowers and plants: Gül, Lale, Akgül.
  • Wind, rain and lightning: Yıldırım, Şimşek, Bulut.
  • Sky, sun, moon and stars: Yıldız, Güneş, Ülker.
  • Light and fire: Işık, Ateş, Aydın.
  • Time and seasons: Bahar, Gündüz, Seher.

Shape

The structure is usually plain. Either a single word stands alone (Kaya, Deniz), or a colour or quality element comes first (Karakaya, Akbulut, Göksu). In such compounds the final noun carries the meaning, and the hub is assigned by that head: Karakaya is a rock name, and the colour element is recorded as a secondary tag. Vowel harmony does not apply across the compound boundary. Akdağ stays back-vowelled throughout, while Gökçınar sets a front vowel next to back ones without any problem.

One point is easy to miss. These surnames describe a word, not a place. A family called Bozdağ may or may not have lived below a grey mountain; without family records nobody can say. Proper names of particular mountains, rivers and lakes, such as Erciyes or Fırat, are therefore kept apart, among the place-name hubs.

Sources1,2,3,4

Which categories make up this group?

  • Mountains, rocks and stones176 surnames

    Surnames naming landforms such as mountains, hills, rocks, stones, slopes and summits. Popular in 1934 for their sense of firmness and height, the group includes Kaya, one of the most common surnames in Türkiye. These words often combine with colour elements such as Kara-, Ak- and Boz-.

  • Water, sea and rivers128 surnames

    Surnames from words for water: sea, lake, river, stream, spring, source and wave. The group holds simple words such as Deniz and Pınar as well as compounds like Akarsu, Aksu and Göksu. Proper names of specific rivers or lakes are filed under a separate hub.

  • Plains, highlands and countryside34 surnames

    Surnames describing open land and farmland: plain, highland pasture, countryside, steppe, meadow, field, vineyard and garden. Words from pastoral and transhumant life cluster here. Mountain and water words have their own neighbouring hubs.

  • Trees and forest78 surnames

    Surnames from tree names such as plane, oak, poplar, willow, cypress, pine and juniper, and from forest, sapling, branch and root. Their appeal lies in associations with longevity, deep roots and growth. Flowers and herbaceous plants have a separate hub.

  • Flowers and plants79 surnames

    Surnames from flower names such as rose, tulip, hyacinth, violet and narcissus, and from general plant words like flower, leaf and shoot. Gül (rose) is the head of many compounds, among them Akgül, Sarıgül and Karagül. Trees are grouped separately.

  • Wind, rain and lightning52 surnames

    Surnames naming weather phenomena: lightning, flash, cloud, rain, snow, storm, deluge, north wind and frost. Yıldırım, with its sense of force and speed, is the most common member. Celestial bodies have their own hub.

  • Sky, sun, moon and stars165 surnames

    Surnames naming the sky and celestial bodies: star, moon, sun, sky, the Pleiades (Ülker) and dawn (Tan). Already a rich source of names in Old Turkic, these words were chosen very often in 1934. In compounds built with Ay- and Gök- the sense can shift towards a name element, which is recorded separately as an affix.

  • Light and fire86 surnames

    Surnames from words for brightness and fire: light, fire, flame, hearth, nur and ziya. Besides Turkic words the group contains loanwords of Arabic origin such as Nur and Ziya. Celestial bodies and lightning sit in neighbouring hubs.

  • Time and seasons46 surnames

    Surnames from season names (spring, summer, autumn, winter) and from words for times of day and occasions such as morning, pre-dawn, evening, daytime and festival. Some may reflect a birth time and others merely a pleasant image; which applies is never stated without a source.

Which of them are most common?

  1. 2 Kaya 899,722
  2. 5 Yıldız 697,080
  3. 7 Yıldırım 666,723
  4. 9 Aydın 581,387
  5. 20 Şimşek 253,543
  6. 29 Güneş 227,203
  7. 30 Aktaş 222,711
Members in the national top 30, people (TÜİK ADNKS 2025).

All surnames in this group

#SurnameMeaningOriginRankLetters
01 Kaya rock, crag Turkic 2 4
02 Yıldız star Turkic 5 6
03 Yıldırım thunderbolt; lightning-fast Turkic 7 8
04 Aydın bright; enlightened, educated Turkic 9 5
05 Şimşek lightning flash Turkic 20 6
06 Güneş sun Turkic 29 5
07 Aktaş white stone Turkic 30 5
08 Abanoz ebony Persian – 6
09 Acun world, universe Other – 4
10 Ada island Turkic – 3
11 Adalı islander Turkic – 5
12 Adatepe island hill Turkic – 7
13 Ağar it rises; it dawns Turkic – 4
14 Ağgül white rose Persian – 5
15 Akalan white clearing Turkic – 6
16 Akan flowing Turkic – 4
17 Akar flowing Turkic – 4
18 Akarca small stream; hot spring Turkic – 6
19 Akarsu running water, stream Turkic – 6
20 Akay white, bright moon Turkic – 4
21 Akaydın white and bright Turkic – 7
22 Akbayır white slope Turkic – 7
23 Akbayram bright festival Persian – 8
24 Akbudak white branch Turkic – 7
25 Akbulut white cloud Turkic – 7
26 Akçakaya whitish rock Turkic – 8
27 Akçakın white spark, or white raid Turkic – 7
28 Akçam white pine Turkic – 5
29 Akçatepe the pale hill Turkic – 8
30 Akçay white stream Turkic – 5
31 Akçiçek white flower Turkic – 7
32 Akdağ white mountain Turkic – 5
33 Akdaş white stone Turkic – 5
34 Akduman white mist Turkic – 7
35 Akgöl white lake Turkic – 5
36 Akgül white rose Persian – 5
37 Akgün bright, happy day Turkic – 5
38 Akgündüz bright daytime Turkic – 8
39 Akış flow, flowing Turkic – 4
40 Akışık white light, clear radiance Turkic – 6
41 Akkaya white rock Turkic – 6
42 Akkaynak clear spring Turkic – 8
43 Akkiraz white cherry Greek – 7
44 Akkor white-hot Turkic – 5
45 Akmaz still water, backwater Turkic – 5
46 Akova white plain, bright lowland Turkic – 5
47 Akpınar white spring, clear source Turkic – 7
48 Aksu clear water, white water Turkic – 4
49 Aktepe white hill Turkic – 6
50 Aküzüm white grape Turkic – 6
51 Akyar white cliff Turkic – 5
52 Akyel white wind, clean breeze Turkic – 5
53 Akyıl white year, good year Turkic – 5
54 Akyıldız bright white star Turkic – 8
55 Alan open ground, clearing Turkic – 4
56 Alataş speckled stone Turkic – 6
57 Albayram red + festival Persian – 8
58 Alçiçek red flower Turkic – 7
59 Alev flame Turkic – 4
60 Algül red rose Persian – 5
61 Alkaya red rock Turkic – 6
62 Alkım rainbow Turkic – 5
63 Alkor red-hot ember Turkic – 5
64 Alpkaya heroic rock Turkic – 7
65 Altaş red stone Turkic – 5
66 Altındal golden branch Turkic – 8
67 Altındere golden brook Persian – 9
68 Altınışık golden light Turkic – 9
69 Altınkaya golden rock Turkic – 9
70 Altınkaynak golden spring Turkic – 11
71 Altıntaş golden stone Turkic – 8
72 Altıntoprak golden soil Turkic – 11
73 Altundağ golden mountain Turkic – 8
74 Altunışık golden light Turkic – 9
75 Altunkaya golden rock Turkic – 9
76 Altunkaynak golden spring Turkic – 11
77 Altuntaş golden stone Turkic – 8
78 Anar pomegranate (Persian); remembers Persian – 4
79 Anjum stars Arabic – 5
80 Apaydın very bright, radiant Turkic – 7
81 Aral island Turkic – 4
82 Ardıç juniper Turkic – 5
83 Ardıçoğlu son of Ardıç (juniper) Turkic – 9
84 Arkun slow; next year Turkic – 5
85 Arslantaş lion stone Turkic – 9
86 Artuç juniper Turkic – 5
87 Aslantaş lion stone Turkic – 8
88 Asma grapevine Turkic – 4
Rank: TÜİK ADNKS 2025 national top 30. The list grows as surnames are added to the dictionary.5

Common questions

Why are nature surnames so common?

Nature words are short, familiar and positive, and they are ordinary Turkish. Article 5 of the 1934 Surname Regulation said new surnames are taken from the Turkish language, and these words met that principle easily.

Does the surname Bozdağ mean the family came from a mountain?

Not on its own. The surname records a word; where a family lived can only be known from family records.

Which hub does Karakaya belong to?

In compounds the final noun carries the meaning, so Karakaya sits with the rock names; its kara element links it to the colours hub as a secondary tag.

Sources

  1. 1Türk Dil Kurumu, TDK Güncel Türkçe Sözlük
  2. 2T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr), Soyadı Kanunu (Kanun No. 2525)
  3. 3T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr), Soyadı Nizamnamesi (Bakanlar Kurulu Kararı 2/1759)
  4. 4Sevan Nişanyan, Nişanyan Sözlük
  5. 5Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) · ADNKS, TÜİK Nüfus İsim Portalı: En çok kullanılan soyisimler (ADNKS)