Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

Province·Eastern Anatolia Region·Code 65

TÜİK · ADNKS 2025

The most common surnames in Van

The most common surname in Van is Demir (17,512 people, 2025). Yılmaz, first nationally, is 6th in Van. Kaya is second with 15,328. Demir has led Van every year since 2018.1

First place
Demir
People
17,5121
ADNKS 2025
Per 1,000
15.72
Demir
Population
1,112,0132
ADNKS 2025
Surnames listed
311

The 30 most common surnames in Van, 2025

RankSurnamePeoplePer 1,000National rank
01 Demir 17,512 15.7 3
02 Kaya 15,328 13.8 2
03 Aslan 11,049 9.9 14
04 Çelik 10,562 9.5 4
05 Yıldız 10,422 9.4 5
06 Yılmaz 9,328 8.4 1
07 Koç 6,988 6.3 18
08 Arslan 6,834 6.1 11
09 Acar 5,881 5.3 28
10 Şahin 5,731 5.2 6
11 Aydın 5,439 4.9 9
12 Taş 5,110 4.6 –
13 Çiftçi 4,963 4.5 –
14 Kılıç 4,823 4.3 13
15 Yıldırım 4,776 4.3 7
16 Kurt 4,223 3.8 17
17 Can 4,035 3.6 27
18 Çiçek 4,011 3.6 –
19 Keleş 4,009 3.6 –
20 Güler 3,828 3.4 –
21 Özdemir 3,744 3.4 10
22 Duman 3,674 3.3 –
23= Bayram 3,586 3.2 –
23= Polat 3,586 3.2 19
24 Işık 3,517 3.2 –
25 Baran 3,515 3.2 –
26 Sönmez 3,508 3.2 –
27 Deniz 3,471 3.1 –
28 Tekin 3,336 3.0 –
29 Bilici 3,137 2.8 –
30 Kaplan 3,081 2.8 –
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 Van’s population?

With an ADNKS population of 1,112,013 in 2025, about 15.7 in every 1,000 people in Van are called Demir. The 31 listed surnames together cover 183,007 people, 16.5% of the population.1,2

Van lies in the Eastern Anatolia Region. According to ADNKS its population fell by 1.0% between 2018 and 2025.2

TÜİK · ADNKS 1.12 m 1.14 m 20182019202020212022202320242025 1,123,784 1,136,757 1,149,342 1,141,015 1,128,749 1,127,612 1,118,087 1,112,013 TÜİK · ADNKS 1.12 m 1.14 m ’18’20’22’24’25 1,123,784 1,136,757 1,149,342 1,141,015 1,128,749 1,127,612 1,118,087 1,112,013
Population of Van, 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 Van, ranks 2nd there with 11,682.
  • BitlisBitlis: also Demir, with 3,990 people in 2025, 23% of the figure in Van.
  • HakkariHakkari: Kaya leads (6,144 people); Demir, first in Van, ranks 2nd there with 5,008.
  • SiirtSiirt: Yıldız leads (4,399 people); Demir, first in Van, ranks 3rd there with 3,998.
  • ŞırnakŞırnak: also Demir, with 5,330 people in 2025, 30% of the figure in Van.

Neighbours: land borders derived from Natural Earth boundaries.3

Has Van’s top three changed over the years?

Year1.2.3.
2018 Demir 17,602Kaya 15,683Çelik 10,748
2019 Demir 17,731Kaya 15,949Çelik 10,893
2020 Demir 17,938Kaya 16,226Çelik 11,004
2021 Demir 17,859Kaya 16,023Çelik 10,949
2022 Demir 17,709Kaya 15,866Aslan 10,964
2023 Demir 17,766Kaya 15,872Aslan 10,957
2024 Demir 17,627Kaya 15,563Aslan 11,029
2025 Demir 17,512Kaya 15,328Aslan 11,049

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