Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

Category·Lineage, place and name patterns·127 surnames

Place-based -lı/-li surnames

Surnames
127
in this dictionary
In the national top 30
0
ADNKS 2025

How did these surnames come about?

The Turkish suffix -lı, -li, -lu, -lü has two jobs. On an ordinary noun it means 'having, with': tuzlu 'salty', sakallı 'bearded', akıllı 'clever'. On a place name it means 'from there': Konyalı 'from Konya', İzmirli 'from Izmir'. The four shapes follow vowel harmony: -lı after a or ı, -li after e or i, -lu after o or u, -lü after ö or ü. This hub collects the second use, surnames built on a place name.

How they formed

Before 1934, when a village had several men named Hasan or Mehmet, the simplest way to tell them apart was to say where one of them came from. Labels like “Giritli” or “Kayserili” were part of everyday speech. Once Law No. 2525 made surnames compulsory, some of those labels became official. Neither the law nor the Regulation of December 1934 banned place names. Their bans covered rank and office names, tribal names, names of foreign races and nations, and indecent or ridiculous names.

Keep one distinction in mind. A surname is a word, not a residence record. Konyalı derives from the name Konya. It says nothing about where a bearer was born, where they live, or which community they belong to.

Examples

  • Trabzonlu: Trabzon + -lu. The city name goes back to Ancient Greek Trapezous, which dictionaries connect with trapeza 'table'.
  • Konyalı: Konya + -lı. The name is the Turkish form of ancient Ikonion.
  • Erzurumlu: Erzurum + -lu. The second part of the name is Rum; the first part has competing explanations.
  • Bursalı: Bursa + -lı, from ancient Prusa.
  • Sivaslı: Sivas + -lı, from ancient Sebasteia.
  • Giritli: Girit + -li. Girit is the Turkish name of Crete.
  • Kırımlı: Kırım + -lı. Kırım is the Turkish name of Crimea.

In most of these the place name is the interesting part, not the suffix. Many Anatolian city names are older than Turkish and entered it with sound changes.

Where the category stops

Not every -lı surname contains a place. Sakallı means 'bearded', Uslu 'well-behaved, sensible', Kutlu 'blessed, fortunate'; they are filed by meaning. Kayalı can be read two ways: as the adjective 'rocky' or as the name of a place called Kayalı. The record follows whatever its source gives. Ali and Veli end in -li too, but they are personal names, not suffixed forms.

Place names without a suffix, such as Toros or Fırat, have their own hub for landmark names.

What is interesting

These surnames look like a map, but it is a misleading one. All they show is that, in 1934 and the years after, a family picked a place name as a word. The reason is rarely documented, and we do not guess it name by name.

Sources1,2,3,4

All surnames in this category

#SurnameMeaningOriginLetters
01 Ahıskalı from Ahıska Other 8
02 Akarcalı from Akarca (“little stream”) Turkic 8
03 Akpinarli from Akpınar Turkic 9
04 Alanyalı from Alanya Other 8
05 Alanyalıoğlu son of the man from Alanya Other 12
06 Altaylı from the Altai Turkic 7
07 Amasyalı from Amasya Greek 8
08 Ankaralı from Ankara Greek 8
09 Antalyalı from Antalya Greek 9
10 Aqçoqraqlı from Akçokrak (“white spring”) Turkic 10
11 Ardahanlı from Ardahan Other 9
12 Ardalı of the Arda Other 6
13 Asyalı from Asia Greek 6
14 Ayaşlı from Ayaş Turkic 6
15 Aydınlı from Aydın Turkic 7
16 Aydınlıoğlu son of the man from Aydın Turkic 11
17 Aydoslu from Aydos Greek 7
18 Azaklı from Azak (Azov) Turkic 6
19 Bağdatlı from Baghdad Persian 8
20 Bahadırlı of the hero Turkic 9
21 Bahçekapılı from Bahçekapı Turkic 11
22 Bartın Bartın, Black Sea province and river Greek 6
23 Batumlu from Batum (Batumi) Other 7
24 Bayatlı from Bayat Turkic 7
25 Bayraklı with a flag Turkic 8
26 Belviranlı from Belviran 10
27 Benderlioğlu son of the man from Bender Persian 12
28 Beydilli of the Beğdili tribe; from Beydili Turkic 8
29 Bolatlı from Bolat; “of steel” Persian 7
30 Bolayırlı from Bolayır Greek 9
31 Bornovalı from Bornova 9
32 Bozbeyli of Bozbey (“grey lord”) Turkic 8
33 Bucaklı from the bucak (corner, sub-district) Turkic 7
34 Bulgurlu of bulgur; from Bulgurlu Persian 8
35 Canikli of Canik 7
36 Cezayirli from Algiers / Algeria Arabic 9
37 Çakmaklı flintlock gun Turkic 8
38 Çallı from Çal Turkic 5
39 Çataklı from Çatak (a gully) Turkic 7
40 Çayırlı with meadows Turkic 7
41 Çeşmelioğlu son of the Çeşmeli Persian 11
42 Çobanlı of the shepherds; from Çobanlı Persian 7
43 Çorlulu from Çorlu Greek 7
44 Çorumlu of Çorum 7
45 Dalaklı with dalak (spleen; honeycomb) Turkic 7
46 Denizli the city of Denizli Turkic 7
47 Dereli by the stream; from Dereli Persian 6
48 Derelioğlu dereli (of the stream) + -oğlu Persian 10
49 Develi from Develi Turkic 6
50 Develioğlu son of the Develi Turkic 10
51 Diyarbakırlı from Diyarbakır Arabic 12
52 Doğulu from the east Turkic 6
53 Dutlulu from Dutlu (“mulberry place”) Arabic 7
54 Egeli from the Aegean Greek 5
55 Elmalı from Elmalı, ‘place of apples’ Turkic 6
56 Esendağlı from Esendağ Turkic 9
57 Garzanlı from Garzan (Siirt) 8
58 Geredeli from Gerede Greek 8
59 Gergerlioğlu son of the man from Gerger 12
60 Giritlioğlu son of the Cretan Greek 11
61 Gümülcinelioğlu son of the man from Komotini Greek 15
62 Hadımlıoğlu son of the man from Hadım Arabic 11
63 Ilıcalı from Ilıca, from the hot spring Turkic 7
64 İncirli rich in figs Persian 7
The list grows as surnames are added to the dictionary.

Common questions

What is the difference between -lı, -li, -lu and -lü?

The meaning is the same. Vowel harmony picks the shape from the last vowel of the base: Konyalı, Giritli, Trabzonlu, Ürgüplü.

Is someone called Trabzonlu from Trabzon?

The surname does not say so. It is a word derived from the name Trabzon and gives no information about a bearer's birthplace, home or community.

Do Sakallı and Kutlu come from place names too?

No. There the suffix sits on an ordinary noun: 'bearded', 'blessed, fortunate'. They are filed in other categories by meaning.

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 Kanunu (Kanun No. 2525)
  4. 4T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr), Soyadı Nizamnamesi (Bakanlar Kurulu Kararı 2/1759)