Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMENo. 5

ADNKS 2025

Yıldız

Yıldız /jɯɫˈdɯz/ ASCII Yildiz

“star”5

#5 The 5th most common surname in Türkiye 697,080 peopleTÜİK ADNKS 20251

National rank
51
ADNKS 2025
People
697,0801
ADNKS 2025
Per 1,000
8.12
1 in 124
Rank change
±01
vs 2024
Letters / syllables
6 / 2
Formation
Plain noun
Contents§1–§18
  1. §1Pronunciation
  2. §2Meaning
  3. §3Root tree
  4. §4Formation & 1934
  5. §5Name family
  6. §6Spellings
  7. §7How many
  8. §8Rank history
  9. §9Provinces
  10. §10Classroom maths
  11. §11Compared
  12. §12Full names
  13. §13Notable people
  14. §14As a first name
  15. §15Abroad
  16. §16Sources
  17. §17Questions
  18. §18Related

How do you pronounce Yıldız?

Yıldız

IPA /jɯɫˈdɯz/

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

What does the surname Yıldız mean?

The name is simply the Turkish word for a star shining in the night sky; Old Turkic recorded it as yultuz. Figuratively it also means a person who shines and stands out among others. It is used as a given name for both girls and boys.5

Yıldız is also an ordinary word in everyday Turkish.

What is Yıldız made of?

Yıldız is a single root: yıldız (star).

Yıldız root yıldız star TURKIC yıldız “star; figuratively afamous or outstanding…” Yıldız yıldız root star yıldız TURKIC “star; figuratively a famous oroutstanding person”
Yıldız: parts and root words
  • yıldız Turkic — star; figuratively a famous or outstanding person5

How was the name Yıldız formed?

Yıldız belongs to the “plain noun” class of surnames.

Which surnames are related to Yıldız?

Yıldız Akyıldız Ayyıldız Yıldızhan Özyıldız Sarıyıldız Yıldızoğlu Tanyıldızı Taçyıldız Tanyıldız Gökyıldız
Circle area shows the number of bearers; dashed circle: no national count published. Solid line: same root; dashed line: same affix.
#SurnameRelationRankPeople
01 Akyıldız same root – –
02 Ayyıldız same root – –
03 Yıldızhan same root – –
04 Özyıldız same root – –
05 Sarıyıldız same root – –
06 Yıldızoğlu same root – –
07 Tanyıldızı same root – –
08 Taçyıldız same root – –
09 Tanyıldız same root – –
10 Gökyıldız same root – –

How else is Yıldız spelled?

İldizspelling

How many people in Türkiye are called Yıldız?

Yıldız is the fifth most common surname, 20,575 behind Çelik and 8,866 ahead of Şahin.1

Bearers by year

TÜİK · ADNKS · 2018–2025 660 k 680 k 700 k 20182019202020212022202320242025 660,780 668,478 674,918 680,948 686,329 690,153 693,634 697,080 TÜİK · ADNKS · 2018–2025 660 k 680 k 700 k ’18’20’22’24’25 660,780 668,478 674,918 680,948 686,329 690,153 693,634 697,080
People with the surname Yıldız, 2018–2025 (TÜİK ADNKS) Vertical axis does not start at zero.

Yıldız is growing faster than Türkiye’s population: up 36,300 people (5.5%) since 2018, against 5.0% for the population as a whole. Its absolute gain is the fifth largest in the top 10. It has held 5th place every year since 2018.1,2

How has Yıldız ranked over the years?

Source: TÜİK, address-based population register. Each row is that year’s record.
YearRankPeopleChangeSource
2025 5 697,080 +3,446 [1]
2024 5 693,634 +3,481 [1]
2023 5 690,153 +3,824 [1]
2022 5 686,329 +5,381 [1]
2021 5 680,948 +6,030 [1]
2020 5 674,918 +6,440 [1]
2019 5 668,478 +7,698 [1]
2018 5 660,780 – [1]

Where in Türkiye is Yıldız most common?

Yıldız tops the list only in Siirt, but is in the top three in 9 provinces.1

Adana · rank 7 · 16,065 people Adıyaman · rank 14 · 3,789 people Afyonkarahisar · rank 10 · 4,688 people Ağrı · rank 3 · 7,849 people Amasya · rank 13 · 2,170 people Ankara · rank 9 · 44,617 people Antalya · rank 7 · 20,420 people Artvin · rank 6 · 1,582 people Aydın · rank 7 · 7,759 people Balıkesir · rank 4 · 9,442 people Bilecik · rank 7 · 1,748 people Bingöl · rank 3 · 2,392 people Bitlis · rank 7 · 2,289 people Bolu · rank 6 · 2,678 people Burdur · rank 6 · 2,129 people Bursa · rank 6 · 29,055 people Çanakkale · rank 8 · 3,940 people Çankırı · rank 10 · 1,280 people Çorum · rank 12 · 2,510 people Denizli · rank 11 · 5,427 people Diyarbakır · rank 5 · 21,326 people Edirne · rank 6 · 2,356 people Elazığ · rank 7 · 7,826 people Erzincan · rank 4 · 2,618 people Erzurum · rank 8 · 7,787 people Eskişehir · rank 5 · 7,162 people Gaziantep · rank 12 · 20,247 people Giresun · rank 9 · 3,862 people Gümüşhane · rank 8 · 1,233 people Hakkari Hatay · rank 4 · 10,915 people Isparta · rank 5 · 3,906 people Mersin · rank 7 · 16,046 people Istanbul · rank 4 · 130,134 people Izmir · rank 5 · 32,251 people Kars · rank 3 · 5,191 people Kastamonu · rank 6 · 2,756 people Kayseri · rank 4 · 13,403 people Kırklareli · rank 6 · 2,138 people Kırşehir · rank 13 · 1,853 people Kocaeli · rank 5 · 20,099 people Konya · rank 6 · 15,646 people Kütahya · rank 9 · 3,937 people Malatya · rank 12 · 3,830 people Manisa · rank 7 · 10,248 people Kahramanmaraş · rank 6 · 9,036 people Mardin · rank 11 · 6,492 people Muğla · rank 10 · 6,697 people Muş · rank 4 · 4,731 people Nevşehir · rank 10 · 1,873 people Niğde · rank 10 · 2,367 people Ordu · rank 9 · 5,204 people Rize · rank 6 · 2,929 people Sakarya · rank 3 · 9,317 people Samsun · rank 10 · 10,212 people Siirt · rank 1 · 4,399 people Sinop · rank 11 · 1,650 people Sivas · rank 3 · 10,085 people Tekirdağ · rank 4 · 9,713 people Tokat · rank 7 · 6,376 people Trabzon · rank 7 · 5,956 people Tunceli · rank 2 · 1,371 people Şanlıurfa · rank 6 · 21,728 people Uşak · rank 10 · 2,692 people Van · rank 5 · 10,422 people Yozgat · rank 8 · 3,287 people Zonguldak · rank 15 · 2,748 people Aksaray · rank 10 · 2,822 people Bayburt · rank 12 · 563 people Karaman · rank 8 · 1,880 people Kırıkkale · rank 9 · 1,614 people Batman · rank 3 · 9,433 people Şırnak · rank 4 · 4,000 people Bartın · rank 9 · 1,454 people Ardahan · rank 2 · 2,120 people Iğdır · rank 10 · 1,421 people Yalova · rank 5 · 2,751 people Karabük · rank 12 · 1,535 people Kilis · rank 6 · 1,742 people Osmaniye · rank 11 · 3,111 people Düzce · rank 6 · 3,630 people Hover or focus a province · ADNKS 2025
  • Most common surname (#1) 1
  • In the top three (#2–3) 8
  • In the province top 30 71
  • Not listed
Yıldız: rank by province, 2025 (TÜİK ADNKS, province top-30 lists)
Provinces with the most bearers
#ProvinceRankPeople
01Istanbul4130,134
02Ankara944,617
03Izmir532,251
04Bursa629,055
05Şanlıurfa621,728
06Diyarbakır521,326
Provinces where it is #1 1
  • Siirt

How often would you meet a Yıldız?

In a school of 1,000 pupils you would expect about 8 Yıldızs.

In a class of 30, the chance that at least one pupil is a Yıldız is about 22%.

About 8.1 Yıldızs in a group of 1,000

697,080 ÷ 86,092,168 × 1,000 ≈ 8.1 1,2

The calculation divides bearers by the 2025 ADNKS population; a real school or class will differ by region.

How does Yıldız compare with similar surnames?

Surnames in the “Sky, sun, moon and stars” category and the Yıldız family:

  1. 3 Demir 876,934
  2. 4 Çelik 717,655
  3. 5 Yıldız 697,080
  4. 6 Şahin 688,214
  5. 7 Yıldırım 666,723
  6. 29 Güneş 227,203
Surnames from the same category and family with a published national count (TÜİK ADNKS 2025)

Yıldız and Şahin are carried by almost exactly as many people.

How many people are called Mehmet Yıldız?

These are estimates that assume given names and surnames are independent. In reality, families and regions do not choose names independently, so read them as orders of magnitude.

#Full nameEstimated people
01 Mehmet Yıldız ≈10,298estimate
02 Fatma Yıldız ≈9,329estimate
03 Mustafa Yıldız ≈8,564estimate
04 Ayşe Yıldız ≈7,343estimate
05 Ahmet Yıldız ≈6,940estimate

people(given name) × people(surname) ÷ population1,2,7

Who are some well-known people named Yıldız?

  1. Kenan Yıldız association football player 2005–
  2. Esra Yıldız boxer 1997–
  3. Betül Cemre Yıldız chess player 1989–
  4. Rıfat Yıldız amateur wrestler 1965–
  5. Mehmet Yıldız association football player 1981–
  6. Neşe Şensoy Yıldız judoka 1974–
  7. Abdülhamit Yıldız association football player 1987–
  8. Taner Yıldız politician 1962–

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

Is Yıldız also a first name?

Yes. Yıldız is given as a first name too, carrying the same sense: “star”.

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

How is Yıldız written and pronounced abroad?

In passports and records outside Turkey Yıldız is usually written Yildiz.

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 Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK)ADNKS TÜİK ADNKS: Cinsiyete göre nüfus, Türkiye ve 81 il accessed 8 November 2026
  3. 3 Wikimedia Wiktionary: yıldız accessed 8 November 2026
  4. 4 Wikimedia Vikisözlük: yıldız accessed 8 November 2026
  5. 5 Wikimedia Wiktionary: Yıldız accessed 8 November 2026
  6. 6 Wikimedia Foundation Wikidata: people with this family name accessed 8 November 2026
  7. 7 Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK)ADNKS TÜİK Nüfus İsim Portalı — En çok kullanılan isimler (ADNKS) accessed 8 November 2026
  8. 8 T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr) Soyadı Kanunu (Kanun No. 2525) accessed 8 November 2026
  9. 9 T.C. Resmî Gazete / Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (mevzuat.gov.tr) Soyadı Nizamnamesi (Bakanlar Kurulu Kararı 2/1759) accessed 8 November 2026
  10. 10 Natural Earth Natural Earth: Admin-1 boundaries accessed 8 November 2026
  11. 11 turkiyenames.com Türkiye İsimleri (turkiyenames.com) accessed 8 November 2026

Common questions about Yıldız

Q1

What does the surname Yıldız mean?

The name is simply the Turkish word for a star shining in the night sky; Old Turkic recorded it as yultuz. Figuratively it also means a person who shines and stands out among others. It is used as a given name for both girls and boys.
Q2

How many people in Türkiye have the surname Yıldız?

697,080 people, according to TÜİK ADNKS 2025, which places it at number 5 in Türkiye.
Q3

In which provinces is Yıldız the most common surname?

In the TÜİK ADNKS 2025 province lists it ranks first in Siirt.
Q4

What is the origin of the surname Yıldız?

The root word of Yıldız is yıldız (Turkic): “star; figuratively a famous or outstanding person”.
Q5

How do you pronounce Yıldız?

Yıl·dız, 2 syllables; IPA: /jɯɫˈdɯz/.