Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

Category·Lineage, place and name patterns·324 surnames

Built from Turkic name elements

Surnames
324
in this dictionary
In the national top 30
36
ADNKS 2025
Most common
Özkan
People
245,2546
Özkan

How did these surnames come about?

Take Ayhan apart and you get two pieces: ay 'moon' and han 'khan, ruler'. Do the same with Alper: alp 'hero' and er 'man, warrior'. Neither compound is a word you would hear in a sentence. Both are names, built the way Old Turkic personal names were built: from a small stock of elements joined almost freely.

The building blocks

The stock is short and turns up everywhere. Er means 'man, brave man'. Alp is a valiant fighter. Ay is the moon and, in names, 'radiant, beautiful'. Gök is the sky. Han and tekin are titles, 'ruler' and 'prince'. Tunç is bronze, kut is 'good fortune, heavenly favour', bay is 'rich, notable man'. A name joins two of these, sometimes three, and the result reads like a wish or a portrait: strong as a hero, bright as the moon, lord of the sky.

So the meaning is an interpretation, not a definition. Dictionaries gloss the parts; the reader assembles the whole. Ayhan can be read as 'moon-khan' or as 'radiant ruler', and both readings are fair.

Examples

  • Erhan: er + han, a hero-lord.
  • Gökhan: gök + han, 'khan of the sky'.
  • Erol: er plus ol, the imperative of olmak 'to be': 'be a man, be brave'. A short sentence frozen into a name.
  • Tuncay: tunç 'bronze' + ay 'moon', hardness set beside brightness.
  • Ertuğrul: er + tuğrul. The second element is usually explained as the name of a bird of prey in Old Turkic, but its exact sense is debated.
  • Baykal: identical with the Turkish name of Lake Baikal in Siberia. Whether the surname echoes the lake or is a fresh compound of bay with another element is debated, and the origin of the lake's name is itself uncertain.

Names first, surnames later

Nearly every surname here is also a given name, and that is the test our taxonomy applies: a compound of name elements that people also carry as a first name belongs in this hub. The same structure, when it is neither a dictionary word nor a given name, is filed with the 1934 compounds. Our sister site turkiyenames records many of these as first names.

The overlap has a simple history. When the Surname Law (Kanun No. 2525) made a surname compulsory in 1934, families looked for short, Turkish, pleasant-sounding words. The Soyadı Nizamnamesi of December 1934 asked that new surnames be taken from the Turkish language (Md. 5) and allowed a surname to stand alone or with “(oğlu)” (Md. 6). Old name elements met both wishes at once. Some families turned a grandfather's given name into the surname; others assembled a new pair from the same parts.

Why the group is worth a look

These names show Turkish word-building at its most compact. The elements are few; the combinations are many. Scan a list and the same pieces keep coming back in a new order: Alper and Eralp are the best-known pair. That reversibility is a clue in itself. It shows that these were never phrases of everyday speech but names put together from a shared kit.

Sources1,2,3,4,5

Which of them are most common?

  1. 22 Özkan 245,254
  2. 25 Özcan 233,820
  3. 26 Erdoğan 233,535
Members in the national top 30, people (TÜİK ADNKS 2025).

All surnames in this category

#SurnameMeaningOriginRankLetters
01 Özkan of pure blood, of good stock Turkic 22 5
02 Özcan pure soul; dear to the heart Persian 25 5
03 Erdoğan warrior falcon; born a hero Turkic 26 7
04 Acuner man of the world Other – 6
05 Adal take a name, win renown Turkic – 4
06 Adıgüzel whose name is beautiful Turkic – 8
07 Akbay pure and noble man Turkic – 5
08 Akçura benevolent spirit Turkic – 6
09 Akel clean hand; bright land Turkic – 4
10 Aker white hero, honest man Turkic – 4
11 Akhan white lord Turkic – 5
12 Akkan of pure lineage; white khan Turkic – 5
13 Akkurt white wolf Turkic – 6
14 Aköz pure at heart Turkic – 4
15 Aksel new name echoing Axel French – 5
16 Aktan white dawn, first light Turkic – 5
17 Aktekin white prince Turkic – 7
18 Aktuna white + Tuna (Tunga) Turkic – 6
19 Aldemir red iron Turkic – 7
20 Algan one who takes, conqueror Turkic – 5
21 Alkan red blood Turkic – 5
22 Alpagut hero, warrior Turkic – 7
23 Alpar short form of Alper Tunga Turkic – 5
24 Alpay radiant hero Turkic – 5
25 Alpaydın brave and radiant Turkic – 8
26 Alpaykut heroic and blessed as the moon Turkic – 8
27 Alpdoğan born brave Turkic – 8
28 Alper valiant man, hero Turkic – 5
29 Alphan valiant ruler Turkic – 6
30 Alpman hero-like, valiant Turkic – 6
31 Alptekin heroic prince Turkic – 8
32 Altan golden; red dawn Mongolic – 5
33 Altay the Altai mountains; given name Turkic – 5
34 Altınay golden moon Turkic – 7
35 Altıner golden hero Turkic – 7
36 Altuğ red horse-tail standard Turkic – 5
37 Altunay golden moon Turkic – 7
38 Arhan brave lord Turkic – 5
39 Arkın unhurried; next year Turkic – 5
40 Arsal yellowish horse colour Turkic – 5
41 Artemel brave foundation Greek – 7
42 Asutay beneficial, profitable Mongolic – 6
43 Ataç little father Turkic – 4
44 Atagün ancestors’ day Turkic – 6
45 Atakan of ancestral blood, noble Turkic – 6
46 Atakul ancestor + servant Turkic – 6
47 Atalay bold, quick to charge Turkic – 6
48 Atay moon of the ancestors Turkic – 4
49 Atılhan renowned lord Turkic – 7
50 Atsız nameless Turkic – 5
51 Ayata moon grandfather Turkic – 5
52 Aybaba moon + father Turkic – 6
53 Aybars moon-bright leopard Turkic – 6
54 Aybay moon-bright, wealthy lord Turkic – 5
55 Aycan dear moon Persian – 5
56 Aydar male name; ay-name or a form of Haydar Turkic – 5
57 Aydemir moon-bright and iron-strong Turkic – 7
58 Aydınalp radiant hero Turkic – 8
59 Aydıner bright-faced man Turkic – 7
60 Aydoğan born like the moon Turkic – 7
61 Aydoğdu “the moon has risen” Turkic – 7
62 Aydoğmuş born like the moon Turkic – 8
63 Aydos moon-friend; hill and mountain name Persian – 5
64 Aygen close friend; broad-minded Turkic – 5
65 Aygün day bright as the moon Turkic – 5
66 Ayhan moon-bright khan Turkic – 5
67 Aykan of moon-pure blood, noble Turkic – 5
68 Aykul moon + servant Turkic – 5
69 Aykurt moon wolf Turkic – 6
70 Aykut blessing of the moon Turkic – 5
71 Aykutalp blessed, moon-bright hero Turkic – 8
72 Ayral one of a kind, distinct Turkic – 5
73 Aysan beautiful as the moon Turkic – 5
74 Aytaç moon-crowned Persian – 5
75 Aytar messenger, one who reports Turkic – 5
76 Aytekin moon prince Turkic – 7
77 Aytemür moon iron (old form of Aydemir) Turkic – 7
78 Ayten moon-bodied, moon-skinned Persian – 5
79 Aytuğ moon banner Turkic – 5
80 Ayverdi given by the Moon Turkic – 7
81 Balamir name of a Hun leader; robust – 7
Rank: TÜİK ADNKS 2025 national top 30. The list grows as surnames are added to the dictionary.6

Common questions

What does the surname Ayhan mean?

It joins ay 'moon' and han 'ruler'. The whole is an interpretation: 'moon-khan' or 'radiant ruler'.

Why are these surnames also given names?

Old Turkic personal names use the same elements. In 1934 families wanting a short Turkish surname drew on them; some adopted a grandfather's name, others built a new pair from the same parts.

Why are Ertuğrul and Baykal hard to pin down?

The tuğrul in Ertuğrul is usually explained as a bird of prey, but its exact sense is debated. Baykal matches the lake name, and whether the surname echoes the lake or is a fresh compound is open.

Sources

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