Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMEEntry 1,517

Göktay

Göktay /ɟøcˈtaj/ ASCII Goktay

“blue foal; moon in the sky”3

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

How do you pronounce Göktay?

Göktay

IPA /ɟøcˈtaj/

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

What does the surname Göktay mean?

A name built from gök and tay. According to Nişanyan, tay comes from Old Turkic tay ‘foal’; gök means both ‘sky’ and, of horses, ‘bluish grey’. Nişanyan Adlar gives the meaning only tentatively: ‘moon in the sky?’, ‘blue foal?’, ‘like the sky?’.2,3

Grammar gök + tay.

That Göktay goes back to gök and tay is probable rather than proven: the dictionaries cited agree on it.

What is Göktay made of?

Göktay breaks into 2 parts: gök (gök: sky; blue) + tay (tay: foal).

Göktay + first element gök gök: sky; blue TURKIC gök “sky; blue, grey (ofhorses)” root tay tay: foal TURKIC tay “foal” Göktay gök first element gök: sky; blue gök TURKIC “sky; blue, grey (of horses)” tay root tay: foal tay TURKIC “foal”
Göktay: parts and root words
  • gök Turkic — sky; blue, grey (of horses)3
  • tay Turkic — foal2

How was the name Göktay formed?

Göktay belongs to the “compound” class of surnames (gök + tay).

Which surnames are related to Göktay?

Göktay Gökçe Gök Göksu Gökçen Gökmen Gökalp Göktaş Gökçek Göksel Göktürk Göker Karatay
Circle area shows the number of bearers; dashed circle: no national count published. Solid line: same root; dashed line: same affix.
#SurnameRelationRankPeople
01 Gökçe same root – –
02 Gök same root – –
03 Göksu same root – –
04 Gökçen same root – –
05 Gökmen same root – –
06 Gökalp same root – –
07 Göktaş same root – –
08 Gökçek same root – –
09 Göksel same root – –
10 Göktürk same root – –
11 Göker same root – –
12 Karatay same root – –

Who are some well-known people named Göktay?

  1. Zihni Göktay actor 1945–2026
  2. Fatih Göktay researcher

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

Is Göktay also a first name?

Yes. Göktay is given as a first name too, carrying the same sense: “blue foal; moon in the sky”.

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

How is Göktay written and pronounced abroad?

In English-language and other foreign records the name is usually written Goktay.

Where do these facts come from?

  1. 1 nisanyanadlar.com nisanyanadlar.com: Göktay accessed 8 November 2026
  2. 2 Sevan Nişanyan Nişanyan Sözlük: tay accessed 8 November 2026
  3. 3 Wikimedia Vikisözlük: gök 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 Göktay

Q1

What does the surname Göktay mean?

A name built from gök and tay. According to Nişanyan, tay comes from Old Turkic tay ‘foal’; gök means both ‘sky’ and, of horses, ‘bluish grey’. Nişanyan Adlar gives the meaning only tentatively: ‘moon in the sky?’, ‘blue foal?’, ‘like the sky?’.
Q2

What is the origin of the surname Göktay?

The root word of Göktay is gök (Turkic): “sky; blue, grey (of horses)”.
Q3

How do you pronounce Göktay?

Gök·tay, 2 syllables; IPA: /ɟøcˈtaj/.