Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

Province·Eastern Anatolia Region·Code 13

TÜİK · ADNKS 2025

The most common surnames in Bitlis

The most common surname in Bitlis is Demir (3,990 people, 2025). Yılmaz, first nationally, is 3rd in Bitlis. Çelik is second with 3,597. Demir has led Bitlis every year since 2018.1

First place
Demir
People
3,9901
ADNKS 2025
Per 1,000
11.12
Demir
Population
360,4232
ADNKS 2025
Surnames listed
301

The 30 most common surnames in Bitlis, 2025

RankSurnamePeoplePer 1,000National rank
01 Demir 3,990 11.1 3
02 Çelik 3,597 10.0 4
03 Yılmaz 3,155 8.8 1
04 Kaya 3,102 8.6 2
05 Özdemir 2,848 7.9 10
06 Aslan 2,628 7.3 14
07 Yıldız 2,289 6.4 5
08 Kaplan 2,047 5.7 –
09 Aydın 2,039 5.7 9
10 Kardaş 2,020 5.6 –
11 Taş 1,918 5.3 –
12 Çetin 1,854 5.1 15
13 Kılıç 1,694 4.7 13
14 Aktaş 1,621 4.5 30
15 Arslan 1,471 4.1 11
16 Acar 1,375 3.8 28
17 Yıldırım 1,360 3.8 7
18 Güneş 1,333 3.7 29
19 Işık 1,157 3.2 –
20 Sönmez 1,147 3.2 –
21 Tarhan 1,146 3.2 –
22 Bulut 1,133 3.1 –
23 Çoban 1,099 3.0 –
24 İnan 1,087 3.0 –
25 Özkan 1,083 3.0 22
26 Akın 1,081 3.0 –
27 Güler 1,077 3.0 –
28 Aksoy 1,073 3.0 –
29 Ekinci 1,049 2.9 –
30 Yalçın 1,037 2.9 –
Source: TÜİK, ADNKS 2025, province top 30; ranks as published (ties share a rank). Per 1,000: share of the province population. National rank: place in the national top 30.1,2

How do these counts compare with Bitlis’s population?

With an ADNKS population of 360,423 in 2025, about 11.1 in every 1,000 people in Bitlis are called Demir. The 30 listed surnames together cover 53,510 people, 14.8% of the population.1,2

Bitlis lies in the Eastern Anatolia Region. According to ADNKS its population grew by 3.2% between 2018 and 2025.2

TÜİK · ADNKS 350 k 355 k 360 k 20182019202020212022202320242025 349,396 348,115 350,994 352,277 353,988 359,747 359,808 360,423 TÜİK · ADNKS 350 k 355 k 360 k ’18’20’22’24’25 349,396 348,115 350,994 352,277 353,988 359,747 359,808 360,423
Population of Bitlis, 2018–2025 Vertical axis does not start at zero.

Which surname leads in the neighbouring provinces?

  • AğrıAğrı: Kaya leads (15,283 people); Demir, first in Bitlis, ranks 2nd there with 11,682.
  • BatmanBatman: also Demir, with 12,597 people in 2025, 3.2 times as many as in Bitlis.
  • MuşMuş: Çelik leads (6,658 people); Demir, first in Bitlis, ranks 2nd there with 5,761.
  • SiirtSiirt: Yıldız leads (4,399 people); Demir, first in Bitlis, ranks 3rd there with 3,998.
  • VanVan: also Demir, with 17,512 people in 2025, 4.4 times as many as in Bitlis.

Neighbours: land borders derived from Natural Earth boundaries.3

Has Bitlis’s top three changed over the years?

Year1.2.3.
2018 Demir 3,874Çelik 3,584Yılmaz 3,147
2019 Demir 3,907Çelik 3,633Yılmaz 3,061
2020 Demir 3,939Çelik 3,668Yılmaz 3,084
2021 Demir 4,006Çelik 3,683Yılmaz 3,109
2022 Demir 4,049Çelik 3,683Yılmaz 3,085
2023 Demir 4,125Çelik 3,640Kaya 3,127
2024 Demir 4,094Çelik 3,599Yılmaz 3,158
2025 Demir 3,990Çelik 3,597Yılmaz 3,155

Sources

  1. 1Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) · ADNKS, TÜİK Nüfus İsim Portalı: En çok kullanılan soyisimler (ADNKS)
  2. 2Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) · ADNKS, TÜİK ADNKS: Cinsiyete göre nüfus, Türkiye ve 81 il
  3. 3Natural Earth, Natural Earth: Admin-1 boundaries