Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMEEntry 4,509

Ünal

Ünal /yˈnaɫ/ ASCII Unal

“win fame”2

Province lists
221
province top-30s
Letters / syllables
4 / 2
Formation
From a verb
Vowel harmony
mixed
Contents§1–§12
  1. §1Pronunciation
  2. §2Meaning
  3. §3Root tree
  4. §4Formation & 1934
  5. §5Name family
  6. §6Provinces
  7. §7Notable people
  8. §8As a first name
  9. §9Abroad
  10. §10Sources
  11. §11Questions
  12. §12Related

How do you pronounce Ünal?

Ünal

IPA /yˈnaɫ/

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

What does the surname Ünal mean?

Ün, “fame, renown”, joins al, the imperative of almak, “to take”: “take fame, win renown”. The name expresses a wish that the child gain fame and standing. It is used as a male given name.2,3

Grammar Noun plus imperative: ün + al- (second-person imperative of almak).

That Ünal goes back to ün and almak is probable rather than proven: the dictionaries cited agree on it.

What is Ünal made of?

Ünal is Turkic in origin and breaks into 2 parts: ün (fame, renown) + al (imperative of almak “to take”).

Ünal + root ün fame, renown TURKIC ün “fame, renown; in OldTurkic voice, sound” root al imperative of almak “totake” TURKIC almak “to take, to obtain” Ünal ün root fame, renown ün TURKIC “fame, renown; in Old Turkicvoice, sound” al root imperative of almak “to take” almak TURKIC “to take, to obtain”
Ünal: parts and root words
  • ün Turkic — fame, renown; in Old Turkic voice, sound2
  • almak Turkic — to take, to obtain3

How was the name Ünal formed?

Ünal was formed by joining ün (“fame, renown”) and al (“imperative of almak “to take””).

Shared note · 1934Surnames became compulsory with Surname Law No. 2525 of 21 June 1934.5

Which surnames are related to Ünal?

Ünal Vural Önal Öcal Algan Öcalan Şanal Önalan Yenel Yurdalan Alanoğlu Ünaldı Ünalmış
Circle area shows the number of bearers; dashed circle: no national count published. Solid line: same root; dashed line: same affix.
#SurnameRelationRankPeople
01 Vural same root – –
02 Önal same root – –
03 Öcal same root – –
04 Algan same root – –
05 Öcalan same root – –
06 Şanal same root – –
07 Önalan same root – –
08 Yenel same root – –
09 Yurdalan same root – –
10 Alanoğlu same root – –
11 Ünaldı same root – –
12 Ünalmış same root – –

Where in Türkiye is Ünal most common?

Ünal is outside the national top 30, but it appears in the top-30 lists of 22 provinces; its best rank is 7th in Karabük.1

Adana · rank 30 · 6,149 people Adıyaman Afyonkarahisar Ağrı Amasya Ankara · rank 14 · 28,157 people Antalya · rank 18 · 10,112 people Artvin Aydın Balıkesir Bilecik · rank 11 · 1,181 people Bingöl Bitlis Bolu Burdur · rank 17 · 1,141 people Bursa Çanakkale Çankırı · rank 18 · 823 people Çorum · rank 28 · 1,500 people Denizli Diyarbakır Edirne Elazığ Erzincan Erzurum Eskişehir · rank 21 · 3,106 people Gaziantep Giresun Gümüşhane Hakkari Hatay Isparta · rank 17 · 2,126 people Mersin Istanbul Izmir Kars Kastamonu · rank 12 · 1,946 people Kayseri · rank 25 · 4,404 people Kırklareli Kırşehir · rank 22 · 934 people Kocaeli Konya · rank 19 · 8,765 people Kütahya Malatya Manisa Kahramanmaraş Mardin Muğla Muş Nevşehir · rank 17 · 1,301 people Niğde · rank 16 · 1,719 people Ordu Rize Sakarya Samsun Siirt Sinop · rank 15 · 1,435 people Sivas Tekirdağ Tokat Trabzon Tunceli Şanlıurfa Uşak · rank 19 · 1,745 people Van Yozgat · rank 13 · 2,772 people Zonguldak Aksaray Bayburt Karaman · rank 20 · 966 people Kırıkkale · rank 28 · 797 people Batman Şırnak Bartın · rank 14 · 1,115 people Ardahan Iğdır Yalova Karabük · rank 7 · 1,981 people Kilis Osmaniye Düzce Hover or focus a province · ADNKS 2025
  • In the province top 30 22
  • Not listed
Ünal: rank by province, 2025 (TÜİK ADNKS, province top-30 lists)
Provinces with the most bearers
#ProvinceRankPeople
01Ankara1428,157
02Antalya1810,112
03Konya198,765
04Adana306,149
05Kayseri254,404
06Eskişehir213,106

Who are some well-known people named Ünal?

  1. Enes Ünal association football player 1997–
  2. Gökhan Ünal association football player 1982–
  3. Buse Ünal volleyball player 1997–
  4. Mahir Ünal politician 1966–
  5. Ümit Ünal actor 1965–
  6. Cihan Ünal actor 1946–
  7. Mehmet Nadir Ünal boxer 1993–
  8. Abidin Ünal soldier 1953–

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

Is Ünal also a first name?

Yes. Ünal is given as a first name too, carrying the same sense: “win fame”.

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

How is Ünal written and pronounced abroad?

In passports and records outside Turkey Ünal is usually written Unal or Uenal.

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: ün accessed 8 November 2026
  3. 3 Wikimedia Wiktionary: almak 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 Natural Earth Natural Earth: Admin-1 boundaries accessed 8 November 2026
  7. 7 turkiyenames.com Türkiye İsimleri (turkiyenames.com) accessed 9 November 2026

Common questions about Ünal

Q1

What does the surname Ünal mean?

Ün, “fame, renown”, joins al, the imperative of almak, “to take”: “take fame, win renown”. The name expresses a wish that the child gain fame and standing. It is used as a male given name.
Q2

What is the origin of the surname Ünal?

Ünal is made up of two elements: ün “fame, renown; in Old Turkic voice, sound” (Turkic) and almak “to take, to obtain” (Turkic).
Q3

How do you pronounce Ünal?

Ü·nal, 2 syllables; IPA: /yˈnaɫ/.