Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMEEntry 229

Alkan

Alkan /aɫˈkan/

“red blood”2

Province lists
21
province top-30s
Letters / syllables
5 / 2
Formation
Compound
Vowel harmony
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Contents§1–§11
  1. §1Pronunciation
  2. §2Meaning
  3. §3Root tree
  4. §4Formation & 1934
  5. §5Name family
  6. §6Provinces
  7. §7Notable people
  8. §8As a first name
  9. §9Sources
  10. §10Questions
  11. §11Related

How do you pronounce Alkan?

Alkan

IPA /aɫˈkan/

The stress usually falls on syllable 2 (marked). In everyday Turkish, stress in surnames varies by speaker and region.

What does the surname Alkan mean?

Al, “bright red”, joins kan, “blood”: “crimson blood”. The name is read as an image of vitality, youth and health. As with some other names in -kan, a link with han, “khan”, is sometimes made, but “red blood” is the usual reading. It is used as a male given name.2,3

Grammar Compound: al + kan.

That Alkan goes back to al and kan is probable rather than proven: the dictionaries cited agree on it.

What is Alkan made of?

Alkan breaks into 2 parts: al (red, crimson) + kan (blood; lineage).

Alkan ++ first element al red, crimson TURKIC al “bright red, crimson” suffix kan blood; lineage TURKIC kan “blood; lineage” Alkan al first element red, crimson al TURKIC “bright red, crimson” kan suffix blood; lineage kan TURKIC “blood; lineage”
Alkan: parts and root words
  • al Turkic — bright red, crimson2
  • kan Turkic — blood; lineage3

How was the name Alkan formed?

Alkan belongs to the “compound” class of surnames (al + kan).

Which surnames are related to Alkan?

Alkan Özkan Arıkan Gürkan Kandemir Atakan Türkkan Durukan Demirkan Soykan Akkan Taşkan Tunakan
Circle area shows the number of bearers; dashed circle: no national count published. Solid line: same root; dashed line: same affix.
#SurnameRelationRankPeople
01 Özkan same root 22 245,254
02 Arıkan same root – –
03 Gürkan same root – –
04 Kandemir same root – –
05 Atakan same root – –
06 Türkkan same root – –
07 Durukan same root – –
08 Demirkan same root – –
09 Soykan same root – –
10 Akkan same root – –
11 Taşkan same root – –
12 Tunakan same root – –

Where in Türkiye is Alkan most common?

Alkan is outside the national top 30, but it appears in the top-30 lists of 2 provinces; its best rank is 29th in Şanlıurfa.1

Adana Adıyaman Afyonkarahisar Ağrı Amasya Ankara Antalya Artvin Aydın Balıkesir Bilecik Bingöl Bitlis Bolu Burdur Bursa Çanakkale Çankırı Çorum Denizli Diyarbakır Edirne Elazığ Erzincan Erzurum Eskişehir Gaziantep Giresun Gümüşhane Hakkari Hatay Isparta Mersin Istanbul Izmir Kars · rank 30 · 878 people Kastamonu Kayseri Kırklareli Kırşehir Kocaeli Konya Kütahya Malatya Manisa Kahramanmaraş Mardin Muğla Muş Nevşehir Niğde Ordu Rize Sakarya Samsun Siirt Sinop Sivas Tekirdağ Tokat Trabzon Tunceli Şanlıurfa · rank 29 · 7,335 people Uşak Van Yozgat Zonguldak Aksaray Bayburt Karaman Kırıkkale Batman Şırnak Bartın Ardahan Iğdır Yalova Karabük Kilis Osmaniye Düzce Hover or focus a province · ADNKS 2025
  • In the province top 30 2
  • Not listed
Alkan: rank by province, 2025 (TÜİK ADNKS, province top-30 lists)
Provinces with the most bearers
#ProvinceRankPeople
01Şanlıurfa297,335
02Kars30878

Who are some well-known people named Alkan?

  1. Banu Alkan actor 1958–
  2. Erden Alkan actor 1941–
  3. Erol Alkan composer 1974–
  4. Gökhan Alkan actor 1987–
  5. Erol Erdal Alkan association football player 1994–
  6. Ender Alkan association football player 1977–
  7. Okan Alkan association football player 1992–
  8. Hüseyin Alkan athlete 1988–

People surnamed Alkan as recorded in Wikidata, ordered by the number of Wikipedia language editions.

Is Alkan also a first name?

Yes. Alkan is given as a first name too, carrying the same sense: “red blood”.

Alkan as a first name: meaning and statistics — turkiyenames.com →

Where do these facts come from?

  1. 1 Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK)ADNKS TÜİK Nüfus İsim Portalı: En çok kullanılan soyisimler (ADNKS) accessed 8 November 2026
  2. 2 Wikimedia Wiktionary: al accessed 8 November 2026
  3. 3 Wikimedia Wiktionary: kan accessed 8 November 2026
  4. 4 Wikimedia Vikisözlük: Alkan accessed 8 November 2026
  5. 5 Wikimedia Foundation Wikidata: people with this family name accessed 8 November 2026
  6. 6 T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr) Soyadı Kanunu (Kanun No. 2525) accessed 8 November 2026
  7. 7 T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr) Soyadı Nizamnamesi (Bakanlar Kurulu Kararı 2/1759) accessed 8 November 2026
  8. 8 Natural Earth Natural Earth: Admin-1 boundaries accessed 8 November 2026
  9. 9 turkiyenames.com Türkiye İsimleri (turkiyenames.com) accessed 8 November 2026

Common questions about Alkan

Q1

What does the surname Alkan mean?

Al, “bright red”, joins kan, “blood”: “crimson blood”. The name is read as an image of vitality, youth and health. As with some other names in -kan, a link with han, “khan”, is sometimes made, but “red blood” is the usual reading. It is used as a male given name.
Q2

What is the origin of the surname Alkan?

The root word of Alkan is al (Turkic): “bright red, crimson”.
Q3

How do you pronounce Alkan?

Al·kan, 2 syllables; IPA: /aɫˈkan/.