1935–1936: how surnames were chosen and registered

What is this account based on?

The process described here comes from the first text of the Surname Regulation, published in the Resmî Gazete on 27 December 1934, and from the Surname Law itself. The regulation’s articles on registration were repealed in 2009. So what follows is not today’s procedure. It is the procedure laid down for 1935–1936.

The texts show how the process was designed. They do not tell us whether every village followed it to the letter. Archival studies of local practice are a separate matter.

When did the window open and close?

The Surname Law took effect on 2 January 1935. Article 31 of the regulation said surnames were to be recorded between 2 January 1935 and 2 July 1936. That end date was the close of the two-year period in Article 7 of the law.

Village heads and mayors had to finish their registers by 2 July 1936 and hand certified copies to the district or provincial governor by 15 July 1936. Nobody had to wait for the deadline: once a village or neighbourhood was done, its register could be certified and sent straight away.

Who reported the surname?

As a rule, the head of the household. Under Article 31, each household head chose names for those in his home whose choice was his to make, and had the others make their own choice. He then had the names written down by the village head and council or, in towns, by the neighbourhood’s municipal representative.

Adult men and widows who wanted to register their own surname in person could do so within the same window. Article 5 of the law already let any adult of sound mind choose their own surname.

What was a surname register?

The surname registers (soyadı defterleri) sat at the centre of the process.

• In villages: the village head and council used a model supplied by the registry office to list everyone living in the village, family by family, with their surname beside each name. Every person living in the village had to be entered.
• In towns and cities: each municipality appointed a representative or clerk for every neighbourhood, who listed all residents using a model prepared by the General Directorate of Population.
• Separate books: locals and people from elsewhere went into separate registers. Nomads were listed too, registered or not, with a note of the registry office where they were recorded.

Beside each household, the person entitled to choose the surname signed. Anyone who could not sign used a seal; anyone without a seal gave a fingerprint. Being unable to read or write was no reason to be left out.

Where did the registers go?

Village heads had the village council countersign the register and handed one copy, against a receipt, to the district governor, or in provincial capitals to the registry directorate. The other copy stayed in the village room and passed to the next village head as official property.

In towns, neighbourhood representatives handed the register to the mayor, who had it approved by the municipal council and then delivered it to the district or provincial governor.

Governors passed the registers to the registry directors against a signature. The books were bound and kept like official inventory. Each was given surname numbers, much like house numbers.

How was a surname entered in the civil register?

Registry clerks copied the surnames from the registers into the main population registers of each village and neighbourhood. They then wrote them onto each person’s birth certificate (doğum kâğıdı), with the office seal and the clerk’s signature.

It was a big job. Article 9 of the law let governors second staff from other offices to the registries. The regulation added that temporary clerks could be appointed to villages and neighbourhoods on request, paid from the village fund or by the municipality.

The clerks also acted as checkers. If, while copying, they met a name that broke the law, especially Articles 7 to 12 of the regulation, they were not to enter it and had to report it to the district or provincial governor. Governors had to issue instructions within 24 hours.

What about people the registers missed?

Anyone found to have been left out after the registers were handed in filled in a separate “surname slip” (soyadı kâğıdı). The person entitled to choose signed it, and the village head or a municipal official certified it. The slips were then added to the register and the civil records.

For anyone who had not chosen a surname at all by 2 July 1936, the governor, the district governor or someone they appointed chose one and had it registered. The person had to use it.

What if two people chose the same name?

If unrelated people in the same village, town or city chose the same surname, the first applicant kept it. The others had to change. Anyone who refused got an adjective such as “büyük” (elder) or “küçük” (younger), or another addition. Members of one family living elsewhere could still carry a surname the family had registered in one place.

What did it cost, and what were the penalties?

No stamps were attached to surname registers, slips, petitions or the notes added to birth certificates. Taking a surname was free of fees.

Failing to report a surname in time carried a light fine of 5 to 15 lira. Village heads, council members and municipal staff who neglected their duties faced 10 to 50 lira. Clerks could lose up to a week’s pay at a district governor’s order, or up to fifteen days’ at a provincial governor’s.

What about newborns?

Article 48 of the regulation was plain: from 2 January 1935, clerks would register births together with a surname and would register “no birth without a surname”. People newly admitted to citizenship were also entered with a surname.

One detail from the top of the state. The decree of 24 December 1934 that put the regulation into force is signed “K. Atatürk”. The prime minister signed as “İsmet İnönü”, the economy minister as “C. Bayar” and the health minister as “Dr. R. Saydam”. Ministers were using their new surnames before the law had even taken effect.