Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMEEntry 1,903

Karayılan

Karayılan /kaɾajɯˈɫan/ ASCII Karayilan

“black snake”1

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

How do you pronounce Karayılan?

Karayılan

IPA /kaɾajɯˈɫan/

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

What does the surname Karayılan mean?

Formed from kara “black” and yılan “snake”, the name means “black snake”, the popular Anatolian name for a long, fast-moving snake. Yılan continues Old Turkic ılan or yılan.1

Grammar kara + yılan.

That Karayılan goes back to kara and yılan is probable rather than proven: the dictionary entry cited supports it.

What is Karayılan made of?

Karayılan breaks into 2 parts: kara (black) + yılan (snake).

Karayılan + root kara black TURKIC kara “black” root yılan snake TURKIC yılan “snake” Karayılan kara root black kara TURKIC “black” yılan root snake yılan TURKIC “snake”
Karayılan: parts and root words
  • kara Turkic — black1
  • yılan Turkic — snake1

How was the name Karayılan formed?

Karayılan belongs to the “compound” class of surnames (kara + yılan).

Which surnames are related to Karayılan?

Karayılan Kara Karataş Karahan Karaca Karakaş Karadağ Karakaya Karakoç Karaaslan Karagöz Baykara Karabulut
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 Karaca same root – –
05 Karakaş same root – –
06 Karadağ same root – –
07 Karakaya same root – –
08 Karakoç same root – –
09 Karaaslan same root – –
10 Karagöz same root – –
11 Baykara same root – –
12 Karabulut same root – –

Who are some well-known people named Karayılan?

  1. Murat Karayılan military commander 1954–
  2. Mehmet Karayılan politician 1967–
  3. Metin Karayılan researcher

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

How is Karayılan written and pronounced abroad?

Without Turkish letters the name appears as Karayilan in passports and foreign registers.

Where do these facts come from?

  1. 1 Sevan Nişanyan Nişanyan Sözlük: yılan accessed 8 November 2026
  2. 2 Wikimedia Wiktionary: Karayılan accessed 8 November 2026
  3. 3 Wikimedia Foundation Wikidata: people with this family name accessed 8 November 2026
  4. 4 T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr) Soyadı Kanunu (Kanun No. 2525) accessed 8 November 2026
  5. 5 T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr) Soyadı Nizamnamesi (Bakanlar Kurulu Kararı 2/1759) accessed 8 November 2026
  6. 6 Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK)ADNKS TÜİK Nüfus İsim Portalı: En çok kullanılan soyisimler (ADNKS) accessed 8 November 2026

Common questions about Karayılan

Q1

What does the surname Karayılan mean?

Formed from kara “black” and yılan “snake”, the name means “black snake”, the popular Anatolian name for a long, fast-moving snake. Yılan continues Old Turkic ılan or yılan.
Q2

What is the origin of the surname Karayılan?

The root word of Karayılan is kara (Turkic): “black”.
Q3

How do you pronounce Karayılan?

Ka·ra·yı·lan, 4 syllables; IPA: /kaɾajɯˈɫan/.