Surname index·Letter
Surnames beginning with O
62 of the dictionary’s 3,450 surnames begin with O (1.8%). None of them is in the national top 30 of TÜİK ADNKS 2025, so each is rarer than every name on that list.
- Surnames
- 62
- in this index
- In the national top 30
- 0
- ADNKS 2025
62 surnames in Turkish alphabetical order
- Ocak hearth, fireplace
- Ocaklı having a hearth; soldier of the corps
- Odabaş head of the rooms, inn steward
- Odabaşı Janissary officer; head servant
- Oduncu woodcutter
- Oflaz fine, excellent
- Oğan God (Chagatai)
- Oğul son
- Oğuz the Oghuz; Oghuz Khagan
- Ok arrow; tribe
- Okan almighty; understanding
- Okar grey heron
- Okay arrow and moon
- Okçu arrow maker; archer
- Okçuoğlu son of the archer
- Oktar name of the Hun ruler Octar
- Oktay Turkish form of Ögedei
- Okumuş educated, well-read
- Okur reader
- Okutan one who teaches
- Okuyan one who reads and studies
- Okuyucu reader; singer; wedding inviter
- Okyay arrow and bow
- Olcay gain, fortune, luck
- Olcayto fortunate, wealthy
- Olgaç mature, accomplished
- Olgun mature, ripe
- Onan the Onon river; “may he prosper”
- Onar mend, set right; ten each
- Onaran one who mends
- Onarıcı repairer, mender
- Onat proper, sensible, decent
- Onbaşı corporal
- Ongan blessed, prosperous
- Onur honour, dignity
- Orak sickle
- Oral urban, civilised
- Oraloğlu son of Oral
- Oran measure, proportion
- Orbay lord of the fortress
- Orcan fortress soul
- Ordu Ordu province; army
- Orhan old male name with -han
- Orhon the Orkhon River
- Orhun the Orkhon river
- Orkan male name, variant of Orhan
- Orman forest
- Orta middle; moderate
- Ortaç participle; a name built on orta
- Ortaçgil Ortaç’s family
- Ortakaya middle rock
- Oruç fasting
- Oruçoğlu son of Oruç
- Oskay cheerful
- Osman male name (Arabic ʿUthmān)
- Osmanağaoğlu son of Osman Ağa
- Osmani of Osman; Ottoman
- Osmanoğlu son of Osman
- Ovalı plainsman
- Oymak clan, tribal unit
- Ozan minstrel poet
- Ozansoy line of minstrels
The letter O in Turkish surnames
O is the back rounded vowel, and in native Turkish words it occurs only in the first syllable. An o further on comes from the suffix -yor, from a compound or from a loan: the o in Akoğlu is the first syllable of oğul ‘son’. O-words that recur in surnames include ok ‘arrow’, oğul (the source of -oğlu) and ozan ‘bard’, itself a surname, as is the tribal name Oğuz. Oktay goes back to the name of the Mongol khan Ögedei, and Onur is a loan from Italian onore.
The surnames under this letter, in figures
The meanings are spread over 27 categories; the largest are “Built from Turkic name elements” (6), “Patronymic -oğlu surnames” (6) and “Crafts: metal, wood, stone and leather” (4). Turkic roots dominate (46 surnames, 79.3%); the rest come from Mongolic (5), Arabic (3), other languages (2), French (1), Persian (1). On average they have 5.4 letters, shorter than the dictionary average of 6.3. The longest is Osmanağaoğlu (12 letters), the shortest Ok (2). In vowel harmony, names with only back vowels lead (60) over front-vowel names (0); 2 mix the two, usually a sign of a compound or a loan.