The 1934 Surname Law (Law No. 2525): what it required

When was the Surname Law passed?

The Grand National Assembly passed Law No. 2525, the Soyadı Kanunu, on 21 June 1934. It appeared in the Resmî Gazete (Official Gazette) no. 2741 on 2 July 1934. One of its closing articles said it would take effect six months after publication. So it came into force on 2 January 1935.

The law itself is short, just fifteen articles. Most of the detail sits in the Soyadı Nizamnamesi, the implementing regulation that Article 13 called for. The cabinet approved that regulation on 24 December 1934, and it also applied from 2 January 1935.

What did the law require?

Article 1 is a single sentence: every Turk must carry a surname in addition to their given name. A surname was an obligation, not an option.

Article 2 fixed the order. In speech, in writing and in signatures, the given name comes first and the surname last. The pattern that now looks obvious, “Ayşe Yılmaz”, became a legal rule here.

Which surnames were not allowed?

Article 3 named four groups. Surnames could not be names of military ranks or civil offices, names of tribes, names of foreign races and nations, or names that offended public decency or were disgusting or ridiculous. The regulation later spelled these out in more detail; see our article on banned surnames.

Article 6 supplied the enforcement. On written notice from the senior civil administrator, the public prosecutor could ask a court to make someone drop a banned surname. The same applied to names that implied a link to famous historical figures. Titles established by law were left untouched.

Who chose the surname?

Article 4 gave the right and duty of choosing to the husband, as “head of the marital union”. If he had died and his widow had not remarried, or if he was under guardianship, the right passed to the wife. Failing both, it went to the father’s nearest male blood relative, and failing that, to a guardian.

The first sentence of that article is no longer in force. The Constitutional Court struck it down on 8 December 2011 (case 2010/119, decision 2011/165), with effect from 14 February 2012.

Article 5 adds that an adult of sound mind is free to choose their own surname.

How long did people have?

Article 7 set a two-year window. Within two years of publication, anyone without a surname, and anyone wishing to change one, had to report the chosen name for entry in the population registers. Publication was on 2 July 1934, so the window closed on 2 July 1936. The regulation named that date outright.

All paperwork for this was exempt from stamp duty. Taking a surname cost nothing in fees.

What happened to people who did not choose?

Article 8 put the senior civil administrator of the district holding the family’s main register in charge. That official settled disputes, gave surnames to anyone who did not choose one and to children of unknown parents, and ruled on whether a name met the law.

Article 9 let governors and district governors second staff from other government offices to the population registries until the job was done. Thousands of new names had to be entered in registers and on identity papers.

Were there penalties?

Yes, but light ones. Article 12 set a fine of 5 to 15 lira for anyone who failed to report a surname in time. Village heads, members of village councils and municipal staff who neglected their part faced 10 to 50 lira.

Officials were on the hook too. Under Article 11, a district governor could dock a negligent clerk up to a week’s salary, and a provincial governor up to fifteen days’.

Could you change your surname after the deadline?

Yes, but by a different route. Article 10 says that once the statutory period had passed, surname changes fell under the Civil Code. That is still the position: a surname change normally needs a court decision. See changing a surname today.

Is the law still in force?

Yes. Law No. 2525 is current, with a few changes. The first sentence of Article 4 has not applied since 2012. In 2018, Decree-Law No. 700 replaced the word “Nizamname” in Article 13 with a reference to a regulation issued by the President. The bans in Article 3 stand as written, and later legislation still cites them.