Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMEEntry 1,851

Karaca

Karaca /kaɾaˈdʒa/

“roe deer; darkish”3

Province lists
71
province top-30s
Letters / syllables
6 / 3
Formation
Suffixed
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 Karaca?

Karaca

IPA /kaɾaˈdʒa/

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

What does the surname Karaca mean?

The karaca is the roe deer, a small, shy and nimble woodland animal. The word is formed from kara, “dark”, with the suffix -ca, “-ish”, and as an adjective it also means “darkish, swarthy”. It is a given name for girls and boys, and many places in Anatolia are called Karaca.3

Grammar kara + -ca (suffix of likeness).

That Karaca goes back to karaca is probable rather than proven: the dictionary entry cited supports it.

Karaca is also an ordinary word in everyday Turkish.

What is Karaca made of?

Karaca breaks into 2 parts: kara (black, dark) + -ca (suffix of likeness, “-ish”).

Karaca + root kara black, dark TURKIC karaca “roe deer; blackish,darkish” suffix -ca suffix of likeness,“-ish” Karaca kara root black, dark karaca TURKIC “roe deer; blackish, darkish” -ca suffix suffix of likeness, “-ish”
Karaca: parts and root words
  • karaca Turkic — roe deer; blackish, darkish3

How was the name Karaca formed?

Karaca belongs to the “suffixed” class of surnames (kara + -ca).

Which surnames are related to Karaca?

Karaca Kara Karataş Karahan Karakaş Karadağ Karakaya Karakoç Karaaslan Karagöz Baykara Karabulut Karasu
Circle area shows the number of bearers; dashed circle: no national count published. Solid line: same root; dashed line: same affix.
#SurnameRelationRankPeople
01 Kara same root 16 290,024
02 Karataş same root – –
03 Karahan same root – –
04 Karakaş same root – –
05 Karadağ same root – –
06 Karakaya same root – –
07 Karakoç same root – –
08 Karaaslan same root – –
09 Karagöz same root – –
10 Baykara same root – –
11 Karabulut same root – –
12 Karasu same root – –

Where in Türkiye is Karaca most common?

Karaca is outside the national top 30, but it appears in the top-30 lists of 7 provinces; its best rank is 22nd in Malatya.1

Adana Adıyaman Afyonkarahisar Ağrı Amasya Ankara Antalya Artvin Aydın Balıkesir Bilecik Bingöl Bitlis Bolu Burdur Bursa Çanakkale Çankırı · rank 26 · 684 people Çorum · rank 26 · 1,520 people Denizli Diyarbakır Edirne Elazığ Erzincan Erzurum Eskişehir Gaziantep Giresun Gümüşhane Hakkari Hatay Isparta Mersin Istanbul Izmir Kars Kastamonu Kayseri Kırklareli Kırşehir Kocaeli Konya Kütahya · rank 24 · 1,982 people Malatya · rank 22 · 2,612 people Manisa Kahramanmaraş Mardin Muğla Muş Nevşehir Niğde Ordu Rize Sakarya Samsun Siirt Sinop Sivas Tekirdağ Tokat · rank 25 · 2,235 people Trabzon Tunceli Şanlıurfa Uşak Van Yozgat · rank 22 · 1,896 people Zonguldak Aksaray Bayburt Karaman Kırıkkale · rank 30 · 780 people Batman Şırnak Bartın Ardahan Iğdır Yalova Karabük Kilis Osmaniye Düzce Hover or focus a province · ADNKS 2025
  • In the province top 30 7
  • Not listed
Karaca: rank by province, 2025 (TÜİK ADNKS, province top-30 lists)
Provinces with the most bearers
#ProvinceRankPeople
01Malatya222,612
02Tokat252,235
03Kütahya241,982
04Yozgat221,896
05Çorum261,520
06Kırıkkale30780

Who are some well-known people named Karaca?

  1. Cem Karaca singer 1945–2004
  2. Gizem Karaca actor 1992–
  3. Reyhan Karaca singer 1970–
  4. Hayrettin Karaca environmentalist 1922–2020
  5. Efecan Karaca association football player 1989–
  6. Toto Karaca actor 1912–1992
  7. Cem Karaca association football player 1976–
  8. Yasin Karaca association football player 1983–

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

Is Karaca also a first name?

Yes. Karaca is given as a first name too, carrying the same sense: “roe deer; darkish”.

Karaca 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: karaca accessed 8 November 2026
  3. 3 Wikimedia Vikisözlük: Karaca 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 Natural Earth Natural Earth: Admin-1 boundaries accessed 8 November 2026
  8. 8 turkiyenames.com Türkiye İsimleri (turkiyenames.com) accessed 8 November 2026

Common questions about Karaca

Q1

What does the surname Karaca mean?

The karaca is the roe deer, a small, shy and nimble woodland animal. The word is formed from kara, “dark”, with the suffix -ca, “-ish”, and as an adjective it also means “darkish, swarthy”. It is a given name for girls and boys, and many places in Anatolia are called Karaca.
Q2

What is the origin of the surname Karaca?

The root word of Karaca is karaca (Turkic): “roe deer; blackish, darkish”.
Q3

How do you pronounce Karaca?

Ka·ra·ca, 3 syllables; IPA: /kaɾaˈdʒa/.