Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

Origin·2419 surnames

Surnames of Turkic origin

Surnames
2,419
in this dictionary
In the national top 30
254
ADNKS 2025
Most common
Yılmaz
People
1,177,8964
Yılmaz

How did these words enter Turkish?

The three most frequent surnames in Türkiye are Yılmaz, Kaya and Demir. In TÜİK ADNKS 2025 they rank first to third, with 1,177,896, 899,722 and 876,934 bearers. All three come from Turkish’s own vocabulary. Yılmaz is the negative aorist of the verb yılmak ‘to lose heart’. Kaya ‘rock’ and demir ‘iron’ are nouns used since Old Turkic.

A word of Turkic origin is one that was not borrowed from another language but inherited from the shared stock of the Turkic languages. The oldest written evidence for this layer is in the Orkhon inscriptions of the 8th century. From there an unbroken line runs through Old Anatolian Turkish and Ottoman Turkish to the modern language. Dictionaries mark that line in their entries with labels such as ‘Old Turkic’ or simply ‘Turkish’.

A few signs help to recognise a native word. Vowel harmony is usually intact: yıldız ‘star’, yıldırım ‘lightning’, kurt ‘wolf’. The root tends to have one or two syllables and takes Turkish derivational suffixes: demir-ci ‘smith’, kut-lu ‘blessed’, bil-ge ‘wise’. An initial f, h or j often points to a loan. These are only hints. The decision rests on an etymological dictionary.

The Turkic layer in surnames draws on three sources. The first is the vocabulary of nature and daily life: taş ‘stone’, dağ ‘mountain’, deniz ‘sea’, koç ‘ram’. The second is old personal-name elements such as alp ‘hero’, er ‘man’, tekin ‘prince’, han ‘khan’ and ay ‘moon’. The third is verb forms: Korkmaz ‘fearless’, Yener ‘he wins’, Doğan ‘rising’ or ‘falcon’. These elements combine freely in compounds such as Karakaya, Özdemir and Gökalp.

The 1934 rules brought this layer to the fore. Article 5 of the Surname Regulation states that new surnames are taken from the Turkish language. That pushed people choosing a new name towards Turkish words. Yet ‘the Turkish language’ already included words from Arabic, Persian and other languages that had been in use for centuries. So many surnames with loanword roots entered the registers alongside native ones.

Some origins are disputed. Both Turkic and Mongolic sources have been proposed for altan ‘golden’ and ulus ‘people, nation’. Çelebi has several competing explanations. In such cases the site gives both views and marks the record as disputed. New words coined from Turkic roots in the 1930s also belong here: the word may be recent, but its roots are Turkic.

Native words changed over time as well. Old Turkic temür is demir today, and teŋiz has become deniz. The shift of initial t- to d- is a known feature of the Oghuz branch, to which Turkish belongs. Arslan and Aslan are the older and newer forms of the same word, and both survive as surnames. In TÜİK ADNKS 2025 Arslan has 521,149 bearers and Aslan 409,459, both within the top fifteen. The site links the two as spelling variants rather than treating them as separate origins.

Origins are assigned from reference works such as the TDK Güncel Türkçe Sözlük and the Nişanyan etymological dictionary. A Turkic root describes the history of a word. It tells us nothing about the family that carries it, and this page deals only with the words.

Sources1,2,3,4

Which of them are most common?

  1. 1 Yılmaz 1,177,896
  2. 2 Kaya 899,722
  3. 3 Demir 876,934
  4. 4 Çelik 717,655
  5. 5 Yıldız 697,080
  6. 7 Yıldırım 666,723
  7. 8 Öztürk 586,831
  8. 9 Aydın 581,387
  9. 10 Özdemir 556,378
  10. 11 Arslan 521,149
  11. 12 Doğan 485,906
  12. 13 Kılıç 450,572
Members in the national top 30, people (TÜİK ADNKS 2025).

All surnames of Turkic origin

#SurnameMeaningRankLetters
01 Yılmaz undaunted, one who never gives up 1 6
02 Kaya rock, crag 2 4
03 Demir iron; strong, steadfast 3 5
04 Çelik steel; tough, resilient 4 5
05 Yıldız star 5 6
06 Yıldırım thunderbolt; lightning-fast 7 8
07 Öztürk true Turk, genuine Turk 8 6
08 Aydın bright; enlightened, educated 9 5
09 Özdemir pure iron; firm as iron 10 7
10 Arslan lion 11 6
11 Doğan falcon; rising, born 12 5
12 Kılıç sword 13 5
13 Aslan lion; brave, strong 14 5
14 Çetin tough, hardy, unyielding 15 5
15 Kara black, dark; dark-haired 16 4
16 Kurt wolf 17 4
17 Koç ram; sturdy, brave 18 3
18 Şimşek lightning flash 20 6
19 Korkmaz fearless 21 7
20 Özkan of pure blood, of good stock 22 5
21 Yavuz formidable, stern, resolute 23 5
22 Çakır grey-blue (of eyes) 24 5
23 Erdoğan warrior falcon; born a hero 26 7
24 Güneş sun 29 5
25 Aktaş white stone 30 5
26 Abasıyanık lovesick, “whose cloak is burnt” – 10
27 Abay elder brother; insight – 4
28 Abla elder sister – 4
29 Acarbay bold lord – 7
30 Acartürk bold Turk – 8
31 Açıkalın open-browed, honest – 8
32 Açıkbaş bare-headed – 7
33 Açıkel open hand, generous – 6
34 Açıkgöz shrewd, wide-awake – 7
35 Açıksöz frank, outspoken – 7
36 Ada island – 3
37 Adak vow, votive offering – 4
38 Adal take a name, win renown – 4
39 Adalı islander – 5
40 Adanır devoted, self-giving – 6
41 Adar one who dedicates; March – 4
42 Adatepe island hill – 7
43 Aday candidate – 4
44 Adıbelli well-known, of known name – 8
45 Adıgüzel whose name is beautiful – 8
46 Adıvar renowned, famous – 6
47 Afşar Oghuz tribal name; nimble – 5
48 Ağa agha; elder brother, man of standing – 3
49 Ağacık dear agha – 6
50 Ağaoğlu son of the ağa – 7
51 Ağar it rises; it dawns – 4
52 Ağbaba elder + father – 6
53 Ağca whitish, pale – 4
54 Ağırbaş dignified, sedate – 7
55 Ahunbay scholar-lord – 7
56 Ak white; pure – 2
57 Aka elder brother – 3
58 Akad clean name; white horse; Akkad – 4
59 Akalan white clearing – 6
60 Akalın honourable, “white-browed” – 6
61 Akan flowing – 4
62 Akar flowing – 4
63 Akarca small stream; hot spring – 6
64 Akarsu running water, stream – 6
65 Akat white horse – 4
66 Akata venerable ancestor – 5
67 Akatlı rider on a white horse – 6
68 Akay white, bright moon – 4
69 Akaydın white and bright – 7
70 Akbaba vulture – 6
71 Akbağ white bond, or white vineyard – 5
72 Akbal white honey – 5
73 Akbaş white-headed – 5
74 Akbaşlı white-headed – 7
75 Akbaşoğulları sons of Akbaş (‘white head’) – 13
76 Akbay pure and noble man – 5
77 Akbayır white slope – 7
78 Akbayrak white banner – 8
79 Akbaytogan white, wealthy falcon – 10
80 Akbıyık white moustache – 7
81 Akbudak white branch – 7
82 Akbulut white cloud – 7
83 Akça whitish; silver coin – 4
84 Akçakaya whitish rock – 8
85 Akçakın white spark, or white raid – 7
86 Akçal white-speckled; white rocky hill – 5
87 Akçalı moneyed; whitish – 6
88 Akçam white pine – 5
89 Akçaoğlu son of Akça – 8
90 Akçatepe the pale hill – 8
91 Akçay white stream – 5
92 Akçelik bright steel – 7
93 Akçıl whitish, faded – 5
94 Akçiçek white flower – 7
95 Akçura benevolent spirit – 6
96 Akdağ white mountain – 5
97 Akdaş white stone – 5
Rank: TÜİK ADNKS 2025 national top 30. The list grows as surnames are added to the dictionary.4

Common questions

Are all surnames in Türkiye of Turkic origin?

No. The 1934 rules asked for new surnames to be taken from Turkish, but Turkish already contained many words from Arabic, Persian and other languages. Common surnames such as Şahin, Can and Polat are loanwords.

How can you tell that a word is of Turkic origin?

Vowel harmony and Turkish suffixes are useful hints, but certainty comes from etymological dictionaries. On this site the origin follows sources such as TDK and Nişanyan.

What happens when an origin is disputed?

For words such as Altan or Ulus, the Turkic and Mongolic proposals are both given and the record is marked as disputed.

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 Nizamnamesi (Bakanlar Kurulu Kararı 2/1759)
  4. 4Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) · ADNKS, TÜİK Nüfus İsim Portalı: En çok kullanılan soyisimler (ADNKS)