Surname index·Letter
Surnames beginning with U
Only 75 surnames begin with U, 1.6% of all entries, which makes it one of the rarer initials. None of them is in the national top 30 of TÜİK ADNKS 2025, so each is rarer than every name on that list.
- Surnames
- 75
- in this index
- In the national top 30
- 0
- ADNKS 2025
75 surnames in Turkish alphabetical order
- Uçan flying; swift
- Uçar flying; swift, nimble
- Uçman flier, pilot
- Uçuk pale, faded
- Uçum fly edge of a flag
- Uğur good luck, good omen
- Uğuralp lucky hero
- Uğurcan lucky soul
- Uğurel lucky hand; lucky land
- Uğurlu lucky, auspicious
- Ulak courier, messenger
- Ulaş father of Kazan Bey in Dede Korkut
- Ulu great, lofty
- Ulubay great lord
- Ulubelen great mountain pass
- Uluç little son; an old title
- Uluçay the great stream
- Uludağ great mountain; Uludağ at Bursa
- Uludaş great stone
- Uluğ great, exalted
- Uluhanlı of Uluhan
- Ulukan great blood; great ruler
- Ulukaya great rock
- Uluocak great hearth
- Ulus nation
- Ulusal national
- Ulusoy exalted lineage
- Ulutaş great stone, mighty rock
- Ulutürk great Turk
- Umar remedy, hope; the name Umar
- Umran prosperity, flourishing
- Umut hope
- Uncu flour merchant
- Uncuoğlu son of the flour seller
- Unustası master of flour
- Ural name of the Ural Mountains
- Uran skill, mastery; watchword; industry
- Uras luck, fortune
- Urgan thick rope
- Urgancıoğlu son of the rope-maker
- Us reason, mind
- Usanmaz tireless, untiring
- Uslu sensible, well-behaved
- Usluer sensible man
- Usman male name; a form of Osman
- Usta master craftsman
- Ustabaş foreman, master craftsman
- Ustalar masters, master craftsmen
- Ustaoğlu son of the master craftsman
- Uşak Aegean province; child
- Uşaklı from Uşak
- Uşaklıgil the household of the man from Uşak
- Utangaç shy, bashful
- Utkan victorious
- Utku victory
- Utkun victorious
- Uyaner watchful hero
- Uyanık alert, vigilant
- Uyanıkoğlu son of the alert one
- Uyar agreeable, in harmony
- Uygun fitting, appropriate
- Uygur historical Turkic people and state
- Uysal docile, gentle-natured
- Uz skilful, adept
- Uzel adept, capable
- Uzerli of Uzer
- Uzman expert
- Uzun tall, long
- Uzunalioğlu son of Tall Ali
- Uzunçarşılı of Uzunçarşı (“long bazaar”)
- Uzuner tall man
- Uzunhan the tall khan
- Uzunlar the tall ones
- Uzunoğlu son of the tall man
- Uzunyan son of the tall one
The letter U in Turkish surnames
U is the back rounded close vowel. Under vowel harmony a close vowel after o or u is itself u, so u also fills later syllables, as in Uslu (us ‘reason’ + -lu) and Korkut. At the start of names, native words such as ulu ‘great’, uç- ‘to fly’, uğur ‘good luck’ and uysal ‘docile’ give Ulusoy, Uçar, Uğur and Uysal. Typed without dots, Ü also becomes u, so “Unal” may stand for Ünal; the two are separate letters and have separate pages here.
The surnames under this letter, in figures
The meanings are spread over 25 categories; the largest are “Intellect and wisdom” (8), “Appearance, body and strength” (7) and “Fortune, blessing and fame” (7). Turkic roots dominate (61 surnames, 81.3%); the rest come from Persian (6), Mongolic (5), Arabic (3). On average they have 5.7 letters, shorter than the dictionary average of 6.6. The longest are Urgancıoğlu, Uzunalioğlu and Uzunçarşılı (11 letters), the shortest Us and Uz (2). In vowel harmony, names with only back vowels lead (65) over front-vowel names (0); 10 mix the two, usually a sign of a compound or a loan.