Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMEEntry 2,510

Özkal

Özkal /øzˈkaɫ/ ASCII Ozkal

“stay true to yourself”1

Letters / syllables
5 / 2
Formation
From a verb
Vowel harmony
mixed
Initial
Ö
Contents§1–§11
  1. §1Pronunciation
  2. §2Meaning
  3. §3Root tree
  4. §4Formation & 1934
  5. §5Name family
  6. §6Notable people
  7. §7As a first name
  8. §8Abroad
  9. §9Sources
  10. §10Questions
  11. §11Related

How do you pronounce Özkal?

Özkal

IPA /øzˈkaɫ/

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

What does the surname Özkal mean?

Özkal appears to combine öz ‘pure, genuine, one’s own self’ with kal, the imperative of kalmak ‘to remain’: ‘stay true to yourself’. Read this way, the surname is a wish or a piece of advice.1,2

Grammar öz + kal-: noun plus imperative (structural analysis).

That Özkal goes back to öz and kalmak is probable rather than proven: the dictionaries cited agree on it.

What is Özkal made of?

Özkal breaks into 2 parts: öz (own; pure, genuine) + kal- (kalmak: to remain).

Özkal + first element öz own; pure, genuine TURKIC öz “own, self; pure, genuine” root kal- kalmak: to remain TURKIC kalmak “to stay, to remain” Özkal öz first element own; pure, genuine öz TURKIC “own, self; pure, genuine” kal- root kalmak: to remain kalmak TURKIC “to stay, to remain”
Özkal: parts and root words
  • öz Turkic — own, self; pure, genuine1
  • kalmak Turkic — to stay, to remain2

How was the name Özkal formed?

Özkal belongs to the “from a verb” class of surnames (öz + kal-).

Which surnames are related to Özkal?

Özkal Şenkal Aykal
Circle area shows the number of bearers; dashed circle: no national count published. Solid line: same root; dashed line: same affix.
#SurnameRelationRankPeople
01 Şenkal same root – –
02 Aykal same root – –

Who are some well-known people named Özkal?

  1. Muhammet Özkal association football player 1999–
  2. Hatice Dudu Özkal politician 1966–
  3. Nefise Özkal Lorentzen author 1964–
  4. Saadet Arıkan Özkal civil engineer 1944–2012
  5. Birol Özkal researcher
  6. Burak Özkal researcher
  7. Fatih Mehmet Özkal researcher

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

Is Özkal also a first name?

Yes. Özkal is given as a first name too, carrying the same sense: “stay true to yourself”.

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

How is Özkal written and pronounced abroad?

Outside Türkiye the name is often written Ozkal or Oezkal.

Where do these facts come from?

  1. 1 Wikimedia Wiktionary: öz accessed 8 November 2026
  2. 2 Wikimedia Wiktionary: kalmak 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 turkiyenames.com Türkiye İsimleri (turkiyenames.com) accessed 8 November 2026

Common questions about Özkal

Q1

What does the surname Özkal mean?

Özkal appears to combine öz ‘pure, genuine, one’s own self’ with kal, the imperative of kalmak ‘to remain’: ‘stay true to yourself’. Read this way, the surname is a wish or a piece of advice.
Q2

What is the origin of the surname Özkal?

The root word of Özkal is öz (Turkic): “own, self; pure, genuine”.
Q3

How do you pronounce Özkal?

Öz·kal, 2 syllables; IPA: /øzˈkaɫ/.