Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMEEntry 2,673

Karayiğit

Karayiğit /kaɾajiˈjit/ ASCII Karayigit

“dark, strong hero”2

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

How do you pronounce Karayiğit?

Karayiğit

IPA /kaɾajiˈjit/

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

What does the surname Karayiğit mean?

Built from kara and yiğit: “dark hero”, a swarthy, strong young man. In names of this type kara carries the sense “strong, imposing” as much as the colour.2,3

Grammar Adjective kara + noun yiğit.

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

What is Karayiğit made of?

Karayiğit is Turkic in origin and breaks into 2 parts: kara (kara: black; strong) + yiğit (yiğit: brave young man).

Karayiğit ++ first element kara kara: black; strong TURKIC kara “black; dark-complexioned” suffix yiğit yiğit: brave young man TURKIC yiğit “young man; strong andbrave” Karayiğit kara first element kara: black; strong kara TURKIC “black; dark-complexioned” yiğit suffix yiğit: brave young man yiğit TURKIC “young man; strong and brave”
Karayiğit: parts and root words
  • kara Turkic — black; dark-complexioned2
  • yiğit Turkic — young man; strong and brave3

How was the name Karayiğit formed?

Karayiğit was formed by adding the suffix yiğit (“yiğit: brave young man”) to kara (“kara: black; strong”).

Shared note · 1934Surnames became compulsory with Surname Law No. 2525 of 21 June 1934.7

Which surnames are related to Karayiğit?

Karayiğit Kara Yiğit Karataş Karahan Karaca Karakaş Karadağ Karakaya Karakoç Karaaslan Karagöz Baykara
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 Yiğit same root – –
03 Karataş same root – –
04 Karahan same root – –
05 Karaca same root – –
06 Karakaş same root – –
07 Karadağ same root – –
08 Karakaya same root – –
09 Karakoç same root – –
10 Karaaslan same root – –
11 Karagöz same root – –
12 Baykara same root – –

Where in Türkiye is Karayiğit most common?

Karayiğit is outside the national top 30, but it appears in the top-30 list of 1 province; its best rank is 27th in Ordu.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 Ordu · rank 27 · 2,624 people 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
Karayiğit: rank by province, 2025 (TÜİK ADNKS, province top-30 lists)
Provinces with the most bearers
#ProvinceRankPeople
01Ordu272,624

Who are some well-known people named Karayiğit?

  1. Ali İhsan Karayiğit association football player 1928–2013

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

How is Karayiğit written and pronounced abroad?

Without Turkish letters the name is written Karayigit in English and German records.

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 Sevan Nişanyan Nişanyan Sözlük: kara accessed 8 November 2026
  3. 3 Sevan Nişanyan Nişanyan Sözlük: yiğit accessed 9 November 2026
  4. 4 Wikimedia Vikisözlük: yiğit accessed 9 November 2026
  5. 5 Wikimedia Vikisözlük: kara accessed 8 November 2026
  6. 6 Wikimedia Foundation Wikidata: people with this family name accessed 8 November 2026
  7. 7 T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr) Soyadı Kanunu (Kanun No. 2525) accessed 8 November 2026
  8. 8 Natural Earth Natural Earth: Admin-1 boundaries accessed 8 November 2026

Common questions about Karayiğit

Q1

What does the surname Karayiğit mean?

Built from kara and yiğit: “dark hero”, a swarthy, strong young man. In names of this type kara carries the sense “strong, imposing” as much as the colour.
Q2

What is the origin of the surname Karayiğit?

Karayiğit is made up of two elements: kara “black; dark-complexioned” (Turkic) and yiğit “young man; strong and brave” (Turkic).
Q3

How do you pronounce Karayiğit?

Ka·ra·yi·ğit, 4 syllables; IPA: /kaɾajiˈjit/.