Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMEEntry 1,873

Karakaya

Karakaya /kaɾakaˈja/

“black rock”2

Province lists
61
province top-30s
Letters / syllables
8 / 4
Formation
Compound
Vowel harmony
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Contents§1–§10
  1. §1Pronunciation
  2. §2Meaning
  3. §3Root tree
  4. §4Formation & 1934
  5. §5Name family
  6. §6Provinces
  7. §7Notable people
  8. §8Sources
  9. §9Questions
  10. §10Related

How do you pronounce Karakaya?

Karakaya

IPA /kaɾakaˈja/

The stress usually falls on syllable 4 (marked). In everyday Turkish, stress in surnames varies by speaker and region.

What does the surname Karakaya mean?

Kara joins kaya: “black rock”, a dark-coloured or massive, imposing crag. In Turkish compounds the last element is the head, so a Karakaya is a kind of rock. Many Anatolian villages and hills bear the name, as does the Karakaya Dam on the Euphrates.2,3

Grammar Adjective-plus-noun compound: kara + kaya.

That Karakaya goes back to kara and kaya is probable rather than proven: the dictionaries cited agree on it.

What is Karakaya made of?

Karakaya breaks into 2 parts: kara (black; great) + kaya (rock).

Karakaya + first element kara black; great TURKIC kara “black; great, mighty” root kaya rock TURKIC kaya “rock” Karakaya kara first element black; great kara TURKIC “black; great, mighty” kaya root rock kaya TURKIC “rock”
Karakaya: parts and root words
  • kara Turkic — black; great, mighty2
  • kaya Turkic — rock3

How was the name Karakaya formed?

Karakaya belongs to the “compound” class of surnames (kara + kaya).

Which surnames are related to Karakaya?

Karakaya Kaya Kara Karataş Akkaya Karahan Karaca Karakaş Karadağ Çetinkaya Sarıkaya Özkaya Yalçınkaya
Circle area shows the number of bearers; dashed circle: no national count published. Solid line: same root; dashed line: same affix.
#SurnameRelationRankPeople
01 Kaya same root 2 899,722
02 Kara same root 16 290,024
03 Karataş same root – –
04 Akkaya same root – –
05 Karahan same root – –
06 Karaca same root – –
07 Karakaş same root – –
08 Karadağ same root – –
09 Çetinkaya same root – –
10 Sarıkaya same root – –
11 Özkaya same root – –
12 Yalçınkaya same root – –

Where in Türkiye is Karakaya most common?

Karakaya is outside the national top 30, but it appears in the top-30 lists of 6 provinces; its best rank is 13th in Muş.1

Adana Adıyaman Afyonkarahisar · rank 18 · 2,906 people Ağrı Amasya Ankara Antalya Artvin Aydın Balıkesir Bilecik Bingöl Bitlis Bolu Burdur Bursa Çanakkale Çankırı · rank 19 · 776 people Çorum Denizli Diyarbakır Edirne Elazığ Erzincan Erzurum Eskişehir Gaziantep Giresun · rank 26 · 1,696 people Gümüşhane Hakkari Hatay Isparta Mersin Istanbul Izmir Kars Kastamonu Kayseri · rank 23 · 4,491 people Kırklareli Kırşehir Kocaeli Konya Kütahya Malatya Manisa Kahramanmaraş Mardin Muğla Muş · rank 13 · 2,856 people Nevşehir Niğde Ordu Rize Sakarya Samsun Siirt Sinop Sivas Tekirdağ Tokat Trabzon Tunceli Şanlıurfa Uşak Van Yozgat Zonguldak Aksaray Bayburt Karaman Kırıkkale · rank 13 · 1,260 people Batman Şırnak Bartın Ardahan Iğdır Yalova Karabük Kilis Osmaniye Düzce Hover or focus a province · ADNKS 2025
  • In the province top 30 6
  • Not listed
Karakaya: rank by province, 2025 (TÜİK ADNKS, province top-30 lists)
Provinces with the most bearers
#ProvinceRankPeople
01Kayseri234,491
02Afyonkarahisar182,906
03Muş132,856
04Giresun261,696
05Kırıkkale131,260
06Çankırı19776

Who are some well-known people named Karakaya?

  1. Dudu Karakaya athletics competitor 1985–
  2. Feridun Karakaya actor 1928–2004
  3. Mevlüt Karakaya politician 1963–
  4. Tuncay Karakaya athlete 1989–
  5. Tevhit Karakaya politician 1955–
  6. Hasan Karakaya journalist 1957–2015
  7. Ali Karakaya association football player 2002–
  8. Cem Karakaya writer 1972–

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

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: kara accessed 8 November 2026
  3. 3 Wikimedia Wiktionary: kaya 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

Common questions about Karakaya

Q1

What does the surname Karakaya mean?

Kara joins kaya: “black rock”, a dark-coloured or massive, imposing crag. In Turkish compounds the last element is the head, so a Karakaya is a kind of rock. Many Anatolian villages and hills bear the name, as does the Karakaya Dam on the Euphrates.
Q2

What is the origin of the surname Karakaya?

The root word of Karakaya is kara (Turkic): “black; great, mighty”.
Q3

How do you pronounce Karakaya?

Ka·ra·ka·ya, 4 syllables; IPA: /kaɾakaˈja/.