Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMEEntry 344

Arıkan

Arıkan /aɾɯˈkan/ ASCII Arikan

“of pure blood”2

Province lists
11
province top-30s
Letters / syllables
6 / 3
Formation
Compound
Vowel harmony
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Contents§1–§12
  1. §1Pronunciation
  2. §2Meaning
  3. §3Root tree
  4. §4Formation & 1934
  5. §5Name family
  6. §6Provinces
  7. §7Notable people
  8. §8As a first name
  9. §9Abroad
  10. §10Sources
  11. §11Questions
  12. §12Related

How do you pronounce Arıkan?

Arıkan

IPA /aɾɯˈkan/

The stress usually falls on syllable 3 (marked). In everyday Turkish, stress in surnames varies by speaker and region.

What does the surname Arıkan mean?

Arı, “pure, clean”, joins kan, “blood”: “of pure blood, of clean lineage”. The adjective arı goes back to Old Turkic arıg and expresses both physical and moral purity. Arıkan is also used as a male given name.2,3

Grammar Compound: arı (adjective) + kan (noun).

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

What is Arıkan made of?

Arıkan breaks into 2 parts: arı (pure, clean) + kan (blood, lineage).

Arıkan ++ root arı pure, clean TURKIC arı “pure, clean; Old Turkicarıg” suffix kan blood, lineage TURKIC kan “blood; lineage” Arıkan arı root pure, clean arı TURKIC “pure, clean; Old Turkic arıg” kan suffix blood, lineage kan TURKIC “blood; lineage”
Arıkan: parts and root words
  • arı Turkic — pure, clean; Old Turkic arıg2
  • kan Turkic — blood; lineage3

How was the name Arıkan formed?

Arıkan belongs to the “compound” class of surnames (arı + kan).

After the Surname Law, Atatürk gave the surname Arıkan to the statesman Saffet Bey (1877–1947), who later served as Minister of National Education and of National Defence. An academic study examines the name in this context as a compound of arı, “pure”, and kan, “blood”.4

Which surnames are related to Arıkan?

Arıkan Özkan Alkan Gürkan Kandemir Arıcı Arı Atakan Türkkan Arıcan Durukan Demirkan Soykan
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 Alkan same root – –
03 Gürkan same root – –
04 Kandemir same root – –
05 Arıcı same root – –
06 Arı same root – –
07 Atakan same root – –
08 Türkkan same root – –
09 Arıcan same root – –
10 Durukan same root – –
11 Demirkan same root – –
12 Soykan same root – –

Where in Türkiye is Arıkan most common?

Arıkan is outside the national top 30, but it appears in the top-30 list of 1 province; its best rank is 25th in Niğde.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 Kastamonu Kayseri Kırklareli Kırşehir Kocaeli Konya Kütahya Malatya Manisa Kahramanmaraş Mardin Muğla Muş Nevşehir Niğde · rank 25 · 1,440 people Ordu Rize Sakarya Samsun Siirt Sinop Sivas Tekirdağ Tokat Trabzon Tunceli Şanlıurfa 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 1
  • Not listed
Arıkan: rank by province, 2025 (TÜİK ADNKS, province top-30 lists)
Provinces with the most bearers
#ProvinceRankPeople
01Niğde251,440

Who are some well-known people named Arıkan?

  1. Polat Kemboi Arıkan athletics competitor 1990–
  2. Jale Arıkan actor 1965–
  3. Hakan Arıkan association football player 1982–
  4. Meltem Arıkan writer 1968–
  5. Mahmut Arıkan politician 1977–
  6. Enis Arıkan actor 1983–
  7. Saffet Arıkan politician 1887–1947
  8. Erdal Arıkan university teacher 1958–

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

Is Arıkan also a first name?

Yes. Arıkan is given as a first name too, carrying the same sense: “of pure blood”.

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

How is Arıkan written and pronounced abroad?

In passports and records outside Turkey Arıkan is usually written Arikan.

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: arı accessed 8 November 2026
  3. 3 Wikimedia Wiktionary: kan accessed 8 November 2026
  4. 4 dergipark.org.tr dergipark.org.tr: 1615345 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 Arıkan

Q1

What does the surname Arıkan mean?

Arı, “pure, clean”, joins kan, “blood”: “of pure blood, of clean lineage”. The adjective arı goes back to Old Turkic arıg and expresses both physical and moral purity. Arıkan is also used as a male given name.
Q2

What is the origin of the surname Arıkan?

The root word of Arıkan is arı (Turkic): “pure, clean; Old Turkic arıg”.
Q3

How do you pronounce Arıkan?

A·rı·kan, 3 syllables; IPA: /aɾɯˈkan/.