Türkiye Soyadları A sourced dictionary of Turkish surnames

Surname index·Letter

Surnames beginning with G

186 of the dictionary’s 3,450 surnames begin with G (5.4%). Only one of them is in the national top 30: Güneş, ranked 29th with 227,203 people (TÜİK ADNKS 2025).

Surnames
186
in this index
In the national top 30
11
ADNKS 2025
Most common
Güneş
227,203 people

186 surnames in Turkish alphabetical order

  1. Gazoz fizzy soft drink
  2. Gebeş simple, dim-witted (nickname)
  3. Geçer valid, accepted
  4. Geçim livelihood; harmony
  5. Gedik breach; mountain pass
  6. Gedikli privilege holder; NCO
  7. Gemici sailor, seaman
  8. Genç young, fresh
  9. Gençay young moon
  10. Gençer young man, youth
  11. Gençerler young heroes
  12. Gençoğlu son of Genç (“young”)
  13. Gençtürk young Turk
  14. George Greek ‘farmer’
  15. Gerçeker a true man
  16. Gerede district of Bolu
  17. Gerger district in Adıyaman
  18. German fortress; the city of Kirman
  19. Germiyanoğlu after the Germiyanid principality
  20. Geyik deer
  21. Gezen wanderer
  22. Gezer wanderer, roamer
  23. Gezgin traveller
  24. Gezici itinerant, travelling
  25. Gezmiş well-travelled, worldly
  26. Gider one who goes, the goer
  27. Giray title of the Crimean khans
  28. Girgin sociable, outgoing
  29. Girişken enterprising
  30. Girişmen enterprising
  31. Giritlioğlu son of the Cretan
  32. Göçen migrating, one who moves on
  33. Göçer nomad
  34. Göçmen migrant, settler from elsewhere
  35. Göğüs chest, breast
  36. Gök sky; blue
  37. Gökalp hero of the sky
  38. Gökay the moon in the sky
  39. Gökbakar one who looks at the sky
  40. Gökberk sky-strong
  41. Gökbulut cloud in the sky
  42. Gökcan dear sky
  43. Gökçay blue stream
  44. Gökçe bluish; lovely
  45. Gökçek beautiful, lovely
  46. Gökçen sky-blue; lovely
  47. Gökçer handsome man
  48. Gökdemir blue iron; sky iron
  49. Göker sky hero; blue-eyed
  50. Gökgöz blue-eyed
  51. Gökhan khan of the skies
  52. Gökmen sky-like; blue-eyed
  53. Göknil sky blue
  54. Gökoğlan sky boy
  55. Göksan sky + fame
  56. Göksel celestial, heavenly
  57. Göksu blue water; the Göksu river
  58. Göktan dawn of the sky
  59. Göktaş meteorite; blue stone
  60. Göktay blue foal; moon in the sky
  61. Göktepe blue hill, sky-high hill
  62. Göktuna sky leopard
  63. Göktürk name of the Göktürk dynasty
  64. Gökyay sky bow
  65. Gökyıldız star of the sky
  66. Göle Göle, a district of Ardahan
  67. Gölge shadow, shade
  68. Göllü with a lake; a form of Güllü
  69. Göncü leather dealer; cobbler
  70. Gönen Gönen (district name)
  71. Gönenç prosperity, well-being
  72. Gönlüm my heart
  73. Gönül heart, soul
  74. Gönültaş heart-stone; kindred spirit
  75. Gör see!, the seeing eye
  76. Gördüm I saw
  77. Gören one who sees, perceptive
  78. Görgülü well-mannered, cultivated
  79. Görgün worldly-wise, experienced
  80. Görk beauty, splendour
  81. Görkem splendour
  82. Görmez one who does not see
  83. Görmüş one who has seen much
  84. Görsev see and love
  85. Görür sees, perceives
  86. Göymen observer, overseer
  87. Gözcü lookout, watchman
  88. Gözen attractive, charming
  89. Göztepe place name: eye + hill
  90. Gözüaçık alert, wide awake
  91. Gözübüyük big-eyed
  92. Gözütok content, free of greed
  93. Granit granite
  94. Güç strength, power
  95. Güçbilmez knows no hardship
  96. Güçer strong man
  97. Güçhan mighty khan
  98. Güçlü strong, powerful
  99. Güder one who herds, tends
  100. Gül rose
  101. Gülay the month of blooming roses
  102. Gülbahar spring rose
  103. Gülcan a beloved soul, rose-like
  104. Güldemir rose and iron
  105. Gülden rose, rose-like
  106. Güldüren one who makes others laugh
  107. Güleç always smiling
  108. Güleçyüz smiling face
  109. Gülek Gülek, the pass near Tarsus
  110. Gülen smiling
  111. Güler smiling, laughing
  112. Gülersoy cheerful lineage
  113. Güleryüz smiling face
  114. Gülgün rose-coloured
  115. Gülhan rose and khan
  116. Güllü with roses
  117. Güllüce place of roses; village name
  118. Gülmez unsmiling, serious
  119. Gülpınar rose spring
  120. Gülselam a greeting of roses
  121. Gülses rose-like voice
  122. Gülsoy of rose-like lineage
  123. Gülşe rose garden (form of Gülşen)
  124. Gülşen rose garden
  125. Gülşeren yellow rose
  126. Gültekin from Kül Tegin, Göktürk prince
  127. Gülüm my rose
  128. Gümrükçü customs officer
  129. Gümülcinelioğlu son of the man from Komotini
  130. Gümüş silver
  131. Gümüşay silver moon
  132. Gümüşdağ silver mountain
  133. Gümüşdere silver brook
  134. Gümüşpala silver scimitar
  135. Gün sun; day
  136. Günal red sun, glowing day
  137. Günaltay sun + Altai (mountain)
  138. Günay sun and moon
  139. Günaydın good morning; bright day
  140. Günday sun and moon
  141. Gündoğan rising sun
  142. Gündoğdu “the sun has risen”
  143. Gündüz daytime
  144. Güner sun-bright hero
  145. Güneri illuminating; old Turkish name
  146. Güneş sun #29
  147. Güney south; the sunny side
  148. Güneyligil the southerner’s family
  149. Güngör may you see good days
  150. Güngören one who sees good days
  151. Günok sun arrow
  152. Güntekin sun prince
  153. Gür abundant, vigorous
  154. Güral lively, enthusiastic
  155. Güray bright, full moon
  156. Gürayman Güray + -man
  157. Gürbüz sturdy, robust, vigorous
  158. Gürcan full of life
  159. Gürdal lush, vigorous branch
  160. Gürel strong people; roaring
  161. Gürer vigorous man
  162. Güreşen one who wrestles
  163. Gürhan brave ruler
  164. Gürkan of vigorous blood
  165. Gürkaynak abundant, gushing spring
  166. Gürlek cascade
  167. Gürler one who roars, booming
  168. Gürman strong, vigorous person
  169. Gürmen vigorous, brave person
  170. Gürol be vigorous, grow strong
  171. Gürpınar abundant spring
  172. Gürpüz robust, sturdy
  173. Gürsel mighty torrent
  174. Gürses strong, full voice
  175. Gürsoy thriving, vigorous lineage
  176. Gürsu abundant water
  177. Gürtuna strong, fierce leopard
  178. Gürzap surging Zap river
  179. Güven trust, reliability
  180. Güvenç trust, confidence
  181. Güvener trustworthy man
  182. Güvenışık trust + light
  183. Güvenilir trustworthy
  184. Güvenir one who trusts
  185. Güzel beautiful
  186. Güzelses sweet-voiced

The letter G in Turkish surnames

Before front vowels, the Old Turkic initial k became g in Turkish: kök ‘sky, blue’ turned into gök, kün ‘sun, day’ into gün, köz ‘eye’ into göz. That is why so many G-surnames are front-vowel words: Gök, Göktaş, Gökçe, Güneş, Gündoğdu. Before back vowels the k usually stayed (see K). G is a different letter from Ğ, the soft g, which never begins a word.

And Ğ?

Ğ, yumuşak ge ‘soft g’, never begins a word, so no surname is filed under it and this index has no Ğ page. Inside a word it is common: Doğan, Oğuz, Dağ, Ertuğrul and every name ending in -oğlu. In standard pronunciation it is not heard as a consonant: after a back vowel it lengthens that vowel (dağ [daː]), and between front vowels it sounds like a light y (değer). It still counts as a letter, so Doğan has five letters.

The surnames under this letter, in figures

The meanings are spread over 36 categories; the largest are “Built from Turkic name elements” (24), “Appearance, body and strength” (18) and “Heart, joy and hope” (14). Turkic roots dominate (150 surnames, 82.4%); the rest come from Persian (18), Greek (7), French (3), Arabic (2), Mongolic (1), other languages (1). On average they have 6.3 letters, close to the dictionary average of 6.3. The longest is Gümülcinelioğlu (15 letters), the shortest Gök, Gör and Güç and others (3). In vowel harmony, names with only front vowels lead (121) over back-vowel names (1); 64 mix the two, usually a sign of a compound or a loan.

By number of letters

Sources

  1. 1Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) · ADNKS, TÜİK Nüfus İsim Portalı: En çok kullanılan soyisimler (ADNKS)