Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

SURNAMEEntry 3,422

Yüksel

Yüksel /jycˈsel/ ASCII Yuksel

“rise, ascend”2

Province lists
131
province top-30s
Letters / syllables
6 / 2
Formation
From a verb
Vowel harmony
front
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 Yüksel?

Yüksel

IPA /jycˈsel/

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

What does the surname Yüksel mean?

The imperative of yükselmek, “to rise”: “rise!”. The name carries the wish that the child should rise, advance and succeed in life. It is a given name for both men and women, and some villages bear it too.2

Grammar Second-person imperative of yükselmek (yüksek + verb-forming -el-).

What is Yüksel made of?

Yüksel is a single root: yüksel- (yükselmek: to rise, to ascend).

Yüksel root yüksel- yükselmek: to rise, toascend TURKIC yükselmek “to rise, to ascend; toadvance” Yüksel yüksel- root yükselmek: to rise, to ascend yükselmek TURKIC “to rise, to ascend; to advance”
Yüksel: parts and root words
  • yükselmek Turkic — to rise, to ascend; to advance2

How was the name Yüksel formed?

Yüksel belongs to the “from a verb” class of surnames.

Which surnames are related to Yüksel?

Yüksel Özyüksel Eryüksel Yükselen Yükselir
Circle area shows the number of bearers; dashed circle: no national count published. Solid line: same root; dashed line: same affix.
#SurnameRelationRankPeople
01 Özyüksel same root – –
02 Eryüksel same root – –
03 Yükselen same root – –
04 Yükselir same root – –

Where in Türkiye is Yüksel most common?

Yüksel is outside the national top 30, but it appears in the top-30 lists of 13 provinces; its best rank is 13th in Niğde.1

Adana Adıyaman Afyonkarahisar Ağrı Amasya · rank 28 · 1,136 people Ankara · rank 27 · 17,009 people Antalya Artvin Aydın Balıkesir Bilecik Bingöl Bitlis Bolu Burdur Bursa Çanakkale Çankırı Çorum Denizli Diyarbakır Edirne Elazığ Erzincan Erzurum Eskişehir · rank 25 · 2,697 people Gaziantep Giresun Gümüşhane Hakkari Hatay Isparta Mersin Istanbul Izmir Kars Kastamonu · rank 27 · 1,019 people Kayseri Kırklareli Kırşehir · rank 21 · 948 people Kocaeli Konya Kütahya Malatya Manisa Kahramanmaraş Mardin Muğla Muş Nevşehir · rank 16 · 1,379 people Niğde · rank 13 · 2,035 people Ordu · rank 26 · 2,627 people Rize Sakarya Samsun · rank 25 · 4,910 people Siirt Sinop · rank 26 · 942 people Sivas Tekirdağ Tokat Trabzon Tunceli Şanlıurfa Uşak · rank 22 · 1,543 people Van Yozgat · rank 24 · 1,833 people Zonguldak Aksaray Bayburt Karaman Kırıkkale Batman Şırnak Bartın Ardahan Iğdır Yalova Karabük Kilis Osmaniye Düzce · rank 21 · 1,698 people Hover or focus a province · ADNKS 2025
  • In the province top 30 13
  • Not listed
Yüksel: rank by province, 2025 (TÜİK ADNKS, province top-30 lists)
Provinces with the most bearers
#ProvinceRankPeople
01Ankara2717,009
02Samsun254,910
03Eskişehir252,697
04Ordu262,627
05Niğde132,035
06Yozgat241,833

Who are some well-known people named Yüksel?

  1. Edip Yüksel writer 1957–
  2. Atakan Yüksel amateur wrestler 1985–
  3. Levent Yüksel singer 1964–
  4. Ece Yüksel actor 1997–
  5. Müjde Yüksel basketball player 1981–
  6. Anıl Yüksel tennis player 1990–
  7. Batu Han Yüksel weightlifter 1999–
  8. Saadet Yüksel judge 1983–

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

Is Yüksel also a first name?

Yes. Yüksel is given as a first name too, carrying the same sense: “rise, ascend”.

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

How is Yüksel written and pronounced abroad?

In passports and records outside Turkey Yüksel is usually written Yuksel or Yueksel.

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: yükselmek 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 Natural Earth Natural Earth: Admin-1 boundaries accessed 8 November 2026
  7. 7 turkiyenames.com Türkiye İsimleri (turkiyenames.com) accessed 8 November 2026

Common questions about Yüksel

Q1

What does the surname Yüksel mean?

The imperative of yükselmek, “to rise”: “rise!”. The name carries the wish that the child should rise, advance and succeed in life. It is a given name for both men and women, and some villages bear it too.
Q2

What is the origin of the surname Yüksel?

The root word of Yüksel is yükselmek (Turkic): “to rise, to ascend; to advance”.
Q3

How do you pronounce Yüksel?

Yük·sel, 2 syllables; IPA: /jycˈsel/.