Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

Category group·197 surnames

Society, kinship and values

Surnames
197
in this dictionary
In the national top 30
16
ADNKS 2025
Most common
Öztürk
People
586,8316
Öztürk

How did these surnames come about?

Article 1 of Law No. 2525 is a single sentence: every Turk must carry a surname in addition to a given name. Parliament adopted the law on 21 June 1934, and it appeared in the Resmî Gazete on 2 July 1934. From then on every household had to settle on a name and have it entered in the population register. Article 7 allowed two years for that. The original text of the Surname Regulation set the last day as 2 July 1936; anyone still without a name by then would have one chosen by the governor or district governor.

Families looking for a name often reached for the words nearest to hand: what they called their relatives, the ideas everyone was talking about, the titles and epithets already attached to people around them. This group gathers three such word families from social life.

Three categories

Kinship and family. Words such as ata 'ancestor', baba 'father', dayı 'maternal uncle', emmi 'paternal uncle', yeğen 'nephew', torun 'grandchild' and kardeş 'sibling'. Most combine with -oğlu 'son of': Dayıoğlu is 'the maternal uncle's son', Emmioğlu 'the paternal uncle's son'. Plurals such as Kardeşler also occur.

Homeland, nation and ideals. Names built on Türk, yurt 'homeland', ulus 'nation', ülkü 'ideal' and önder 'leader': Öztürk, Yurtsever, Ulus. Article 5 of the Regulation said new surnames should come from Turkish, and these words turn up again and again among the names chosen in those years. The hub explains the words; it says nothing about anyone's views.

Words from religious vocabulary. Hoca, hacı, hafız, molla, derviş, şeyh. Law No. 2590 abolished several of them as titles in November 1934, yet the words live on inside surnames. Here too we discuss only meaning and origin.

Each kind of name places a person in relation to others. Babaoğlu ties a family to a father. Hacıoğlu keeps an older way of referring to someone through a person once called hacı. Öztürk names people with a word for a community. It is also the largest name in the group: TÜİK ADNKS 2025 ranks Öztürk 8th nationally, with 586,831 people.

The roots are mixed. Ata and yurt are Turkic, hacı comes from Arabic, hoca from Persian. The language of a root tells you about the word, not about the family that carries the name.

Sources1,2,3,4,5,6

Which categories make up this group?

  • Kinship and family112 surnames

    Surnames from kinship terms: ancestor, father, maternal uncle, paternal uncle, sibling, nephew and sister. Most appear with -oğlu, as in Babaoğlu, Emmioğlu and Dayıoğlu, or in the plural, as in Kardeşler. The suffix -oğlu itself is explained on its own page.

  • Homeland, nation and ideals112 surnames

    Surnames containing homeland, nation, ideal, progress, leadership and the word Türk. Names frequently chosen around the time of the Surname Law, such as Öztürk, Yurtsever, Ulus, Ülkü and Önder, belong here. These pages describe the meaning of the words and the naming fashion of the period; they say nothing about the views of the people who carry them.

  • Words from religious vocabulary74 surnames

    Surnames from words belonging to religious and Sufi life, such as hoca, hacı, derviş, molla, şeyh, hafız, sofu and dede. They are treated strictly as vocabulary: the meaning and origin of the word are described, and nothing is said about the faith or denomination of the people who carry the surname.

All surnames in this group

#SurnameMeaningOriginRankLetters
01 Öztürk true Turk, genuine Turk Turkic 8 6
02 Abay elder brother; insight Turkic – 4
03 Abdal wandering dervish Arabic – 5
04 Abla elder sister Turkic – 4
05 Acartürk bold Turk Turkic – 8
06 Adak vow, votive offering Turkic – 4
07 Ağbaba elder + father Turkic – 6
08 Aka elder brother Turkic – 3
09 Akata venerable ancestor Turkic – 5
10 Akı elder brother (dialect); given name Turkic – 3
11 Aksakal village elder; white-bearded Turkic – 7
12 Aktürk honest, upright Turk Turkic – 6
13 Aktürkoğlu son of Aktürk Turkic – 10
14 Akyurt white homeland Turkic – 6
15 Alptürk brave Turk Turkic – 7
16 Altınel golden land; golden hand Turkic – 7
17 Altunel golden land, golden realm Turkic – 7
18 Arıtürk pure Turk Turkic – 7
19 Arslantürk lion-like Turk Turkic – 10
20 Asiltürk noble Turk Turkic – 8
21 Aslantürk lion-like Turk Turkic – 9
22 Ata father, ancestor Turkic – 3
23 Atacan devoted to one’s forefathers Persian – 6
24 Ataç little father Turkic – 4
25 Atadan from the ancestor Turkic – 6
26 Ataizi the ancestor's footprint Turkic – 6
27 Atalar ancestors, forefathers Turkic – 6
28 Atalı having forefathers Turkic – 5
29 Atalık fatherliness Turkic – 6
30 Atamtürk my ancestor, a Turk Turkic – 8
31 Ataoğlu son of Ata, son of the forefather Turkic – 7
32 Ataöv praise the ancestor Turkic – 5
33 Atasayar who honours the ancestors Turkic – 8
34 Ataseven one who loves his forefathers Turkic – 8
35 Atasever who loves his ancestors Turkic – 8
36 Atatürk father of the Turks Turkic – 7
37 Ayyıldız crescent and star Turkic – 8
38 Aziz dear, precious; saint Arabic – 4
39 Baba father; head of a dervish lodge Turkic – 4
40 Babacan fatherly, good-hearted Turkic – 7
41 Babalık fatherhood Turkic – 7
42 Babaoğlu son of the elder (baba) Turkic – 8
43 Bağana (dialect) small child, or post Turkic – 6
44 Bali son, child Turkic – 4
45 Baştürk leading Turk Turkic – 7
46 Birlik unity Turkic – 6
47 Cantürk Turk at heart Turkic – 7
48 Çelikyurt homeland of steel Turkic – 9
49 Dayıoğlu son of the maternal uncle Turkic – 8
50 Dede grandfather, elder Turkic – 4
51 Dedeoğlu son of Dede (grandfather) Turkic – 8
52 Denktaş equal, peer Turkic – 7
53 Derviş dervish, humble man Persian – 6
54 Dervişoğlu son of the dervish Persian – 10
55 Devrim revolution, radical reform Turkic – 6
56 Dindar devout, pious Persian – 6
57 Ece queen, lady; elder sister Turkic – 3
58 Ede elder brother Turkic – 3
59 Elbir alliance, unity Turkic – 5
60 Eloğlu stranger, someone else’s son Turkic – 6
61 Erel land of heroes Turkic – 4
62 Eren saintly one; heroes Turkic – 4
63 Erenler saints, holy men Turkic – 7
64 Erenli of the erens (saints) Turkic – 6
65 Erkekli having a man Turkic – 7
66 Ermiş saint, one who has attained Turkic – 5
67 Ertürk valiant Turk Turkic – 6
68 Eryurt homeland of the brave Turkic – 6
69 Esentürk sound and well Turk Turkic – 8
70 Evliya saint Arabic – 6
71 Evliyaoğlu son of the saint Arabic – 10
72 Fakih jurist, scholar of law Arabic – 5
73 Gençtürk young Turk Turkic – 8
74 Gürel strong people; roaring Turkic – 5
75 Hacımüftüoğlu son of the hajji mufti Arabic – 13
76 Hacıoğlu son of the pilgrim Arabic – 8
77 Hakverdi God has given Turkic – 8
78 Hatipoğlu son of the preacher Arabic – 9
79 Hepileri always forward Turkic – 8
80 Hocaoğlu son of the teacher (hoca) Persian – 8
81 Hürriyet freedom Arabic – 8
82 İleri forward, advanced Turkic – 5
83 İlgezdi he roamed the land Turkic – 7
84 İmamoğlu son of the imam Arabic – 8
85 Kalender carefree; wandering dervish Persian – 8
86 Kamu the public; all Turkic – 4
87 Karababa kara + baba: ‘great father’ Turkic – 8
88 Karadayı dark or stout uncle Turkic – 8
89 Kardaş brother, sibling Turkic – 6
90 Kardeş sibling, brother Turkic – 6
91 Kardeşler siblings, brothers Turkic – 9
92 Kent city Other – 4
93 Kırklar the Forty (saints) Turkic – 7
94 Kocatürk great Turk Turkic – 8
95 Kohen Hebrew ‘priest’ Other – 5
96 Koldaş colleague, workmate Turkic – 6
97 Konuk guest Turkic – 5
98 Korutürk protector of the Turk Turkic – 8
99 Koyutürk true Turk Turkic – 8
Rank: TÜİK ADNKS 2025 national top 30. The list grows as surnames are added to the dictionary.6

Common questions

Which kinds of surname does this group cover?

Three clusters: kinship words (Babaoğlu, Dayıoğlu), homeland and nation words (Öztürk, Yurtsever, Ulus) and words from religious vocabulary (Hoca, Hacıoğlu).

How long did families have to choose a surname?

Article 7 of Law No. 2525 allowed two years. The original Regulation set 2 July 1936 as the deadline; after that, governors or district governors chose a name for anyone without one.

Does the language of the root show where a family comes from?

No. Hacı comes from Arabic and hoca from Persian, but that is the history of the word only; it says nothing about the people who carry the name.

Sources

  1. 1T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr), Soyadı Kanunu (Kanun No. 2525)
  2. 2T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr), Soyadı Nizamnamesi (Bakanlar Kurulu Kararı 2/1759)
  3. 3T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr), Efendi, Bey, Paşa gibi Lakap ve Unvanların Kaldırılmasına Dair Kanun (Kanun No. 2590)
  4. 4Türk Dil Kurumu, TDK Güncel Türkçe Sözlük
  5. 5Sevan Nişanyan, Nişanyan Sözlük
  6. 6Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) · ADNKS, TÜİK Nüfus İsim Portalı: En çok kullanılan soyisimler (ADNKS)