Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMEEntry 1,403

Ertan

Ertan /eɾˈtan/

“man of the dawn”1

Letters / syllables
5 / 2
Formation
Compound
Vowel harmony
mixed
Initial
E
Contents§1–§11
  1. §1Pronunciation
  2. §2Meaning
  3. §3Root tree
  4. §4Formation & 1934
  5. §5Name family
  6. §6Spellings
  7. §7Notable people
  8. §8As a first name
  9. §9Sources
  10. §10Questions
  11. §11Related

How do you pronounce Ertan?

Ertan

IPA /eɾˈtan/

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

What does the surname Ertan mean?

Ertan is a male given name made of er ‘hero’ and tan ‘dawn, daybreak’, understood as ‘a man bright as the dawn’. Tan is frequent in Turkish names as a symbol of light and new beginnings.1,2

Grammar er + tan: noun compound.

That Ertan goes back to er and tan is probable rather than proven: the dictionaries cited agree on it.

What is Ertan made of?

Ertan breaks into 2 parts: er (man, hero) + tan (dawn).

Ertan + first element er man, hero TURKIC er “man; hero” root tan dawn TURKIC tan “dawn, daybreak” Ertan er first element man, hero er TURKIC “man; hero” tan root dawn tan TURKIC “dawn, daybreak”
Ertan: parts and root words
  • er Turkic — man; hero1
  • tan Turkic — dawn, daybreak2

How was the name Ertan formed?

Ertan belongs to the “compound” class of surnames (er + tan).

Which surnames are related to Ertan?

Ertan Tan Altan Taner Aktan Tanyeri Tansel Kızıltan Tandoğan Göktan Öztan Tanyeli Tankut
Circle area shows the number of bearers; dashed circle: no national count published. Solid line: same root; dashed line: same affix.
#SurnameRelationRankPeople
01 Tan same root – –
02 Altan same root – –
03 Taner same root – –
04 Aktan same root – –
05 Tanyeri same root – –
06 Tansel same root – –
07 Kızıltan same root – –
08 Tandoğan same root – –
09 Göktan same root – –
10 Öztan same root – –
11 Tanyeli same root – –
12 Tankut same root – –

How else is Ertan spelled?

Erdanspelling

Who are some well-known people named Ertan?

  1. Mustafa Ertan association football player 1926–2005
  2. Deniz Ertan swimmer 2004–
  3. Semra Ertan writer 1956–1982
  4. Bedia Özgökçe Ertan politician 1975–
  5. Cenk Ertan actor 1970–
  6. A. Kubilay Ertan university teacher 1964–
  7. Abdülgani Ertan politician 1889–1960
  8. Ali Rıza Ertan poet 1944–1979

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

Is Ertan also a first name?

Yes. Ertan is given as a first name too, carrying the same sense: “man of the dawn”.

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

Where do these facts come from?

  1. 1 Wikimedia Vikisözlük: er accessed 8 November 2026
  2. 2 Wikimedia Vikisözlük: tan accessed 8 November 2026
  3. 3 Wikimedia Wiktionary: Ertan accessed 8 November 2026
  4. 4 Wikimedia Foundation Wikidata: people with this family name accessed 8 November 2026
  5. 5 T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr) Soyadı Kanunu (Kanun No. 2525) accessed 8 November 2026
  6. 6 T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr) Soyadı Nizamnamesi (Bakanlar Kurulu Kararı 2/1759) accessed 8 November 2026
  7. 7 turkiyenames.com Türkiye İsimleri (turkiyenames.com) accessed 8 November 2026

Common questions about Ertan

Q1

What does the surname Ertan mean?

Ertan is a male given name made of er ‘hero’ and tan ‘dawn, daybreak’, understood as ‘a man bright as the dawn’. Tan is frequent in Turkish names as a symbol of light and new beginnings.
Q2

What is the origin of the surname Ertan?

The root word of Ertan is er (Turkic): “man; hero”.
Q3

How do you pronounce Ertan?

Er·tan, 2 syllables; IPA: /eɾˈtan/.