Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMEEntry 2,759

Keleş

Keleş /ceˈleʃ/ ASCII Keles

“brave, valiant; handsome”2

Province lists
51
province top-30s
Letters / syllables
5 / 2
Formation
Adjective
Vowel harmony
front
Contents§1–§11
  1. §1Pronunciation
  2. §2Meaning
  3. §3Root tree
  4. §4Formation & 1934
  5. §5Provinces
  6. §6Notable people
  7. §7As a first name
  8. §8Abroad
  9. §9Sources
  10. §10Questions
  11. §11Related

How do you pronounce Keleş?

Keleş

IPA /ceˈleʃ/

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

What does the surname Keleş mean?

In popular speech keleş means “brave, valiant” and “handsome”. Nişanyan Sözlük derives it from Persian kalāş “bully, swindler”, noting that the sense turned from negative to positive, as it did with yavuz. Nişanyan Adlar glosses the name as “ram, brave”.2

The origin is disputed. The views put forward are:

  1. Nişanyan Sözlük: from Persian kalāş/kallāş “bully, swindler”; Kurdish keleş “thief” comes from the same Persian word.
  2. English Wiktionary: borrowed into Ottoman Turkish from Northern Kurdish keleş, with no further etymology given.

Keleş is also an ordinary word in everyday Turkish.

What is Keleş made of?

Keleş combines Persian and Turkic elements in 1 parts: keleş (brave; handsome).

Keleş + root keleş brave; handsome PERSIAN kalāş / kallāş “bully, swindler,impudent” TURKIC keleş “brave, valiant; handsome” Keleş keleş root brave; handsome kalāş / kallāş PERSIAN “bully, swindler, impudent” keleş TURKIC “brave, valiant; handsome”
Keleş: parts and root words
  • kalāş / kallāş Persian — bully, swindler, impudent2
  • keleş Turkic — brave, valiant; handsome2

How was the name Keleş formed?

Keleş is the adjective keleş (“brave; handsome”), taken unchanged as a surname.

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

Where in Türkiye is Keleş most common?

Keleş is outside the national top 30, but it appears in the top-30 lists of 5 provinces; its best rank is 16th in Gümüşhane.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 · rank 16 · 968 people Hakkari Hatay Isparta Mersin Istanbul Izmir Kars Kastamonu Kayseri Kırklareli Kırşehir Kocaeli Konya Kütahya Malatya Manisa Kahramanmaraş Mardin Muğla Muş Nevşehir Niğde Ordu Rize Sakarya Samsun · rank 28 · 4,107 people Siirt Sinop Sivas Tekirdağ Tokat Trabzon · rank 29 · 3,672 people Tunceli Şanlıurfa Uşak Van · rank 19 · 4,009 people Yozgat Zonguldak Aksaray Bayburt Karaman Kırıkkale Batman Şırnak Bartın Ardahan Iğdır Yalova Karabük Kilis Osmaniye Düzce · rank 29 · 1,447 people Hover or focus a province · ADNKS 2025
  • In the province top 30 5
  • Not listed
Keleş: rank by province, 2025 (TÜİK ADNKS, province top-30 lists)
Provinces with the most bearers
#ProvinceRankPeople
01Samsun284,107
02Van194,009
03Trabzon293,672
04Düzce291,447
05Gümüşhane16968

Who are some well-known people named Keleş?

  1. Ergin Keleş association football player 1987–
  2. Fatih Keleş boxer 1989–
  3. Can Keleş association football player 2001–
  4. Hakan Keleş association football player 1972–
  5. Kadir Keleş association football player 1988–
  6. İsmail Keleş sport shooter 1988–
  7. Eren Keleş association football player 1994–
  8. Ersan Keleş association football player 1987–

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

Is Keleş also a first name?

Yes. Keleş is given as a first name too, carrying the same sense: “brave, valiant; handsome”.

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

How is Keleş written and pronounced abroad?

In Keleş, ş is pronounced sh and often appears as s abroad.

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: keleş accessed 8 November 2026
  3. 3 Sevan Nişanyan Nişanyan Adlar: Keleş accessed 8 November 2026
  4. 4 Wikimedia Vikisözlük: keleş accessed 8 November 2026
  5. 5 Wikimedia Wiktionary: keleş 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
  9. 9 turkiyenames.com Türkiye İsimleri (turkiyenames.com) accessed 9 November 2026

Common questions about Keleş

Q1

What does the surname Keleş mean?

In popular speech keleş means “brave, valiant” and “handsome”. Nişanyan Sözlük derives it from Persian kalāş “bully, swindler”, noting that the sense turned from negative to positive, as it did with yavuz. Nişanyan Adlar glosses the name as “ram, brave”.
Q2

What is the origin of the surname Keleş?

The root word of Keleş is kalāş / kallāş (Persian): “bully, swindler, impudent”. There are 3 competing views on where Keleş comes from, all set out on this page.
Q3

How do you pronounce Keleş?

Ke·leş, 2 syllables; IPA: /ceˈleʃ/.