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Name elements explained: ay, gül, nur, bek and jan
Five parts appear in a large share of Turkic names. Here is what each one means, where it comes from and how it is spelled in different languages.
These five elements come up again and again when you browse Turkic names. Each has its own page listing every published name that contains it.
ay: moon
Ay means ‘moon’ (and ‘month’). It is native Turkic vocabulary: our sources trace it to Proto-Turkic, and it appears as Turkish ay, Kazakh and Kyrgyz ай, Uzbek oy and Uyghur ئاي. It is one of the most productive parts of girls’ names, as in Aynur and Aigerim, and also appears in boys’ names such as Aybek. All names with ay.
gül: rose, flower
Gül is a Persian loanword meaning ‘rose’ or ‘flower’. Turkish writes it gül, Kazakh and Kyrgyz гүл, Uyghur گۈل. It is typical of girls’ names such as Gülbahar. All names with gül.
nur: light
Nur is an Arabic word for ‘light’ that reached the Turkic languages through Persian, Chagatai or Ottoman Turkish. Kazakh writes нұр, Uyghur نۇر. It is used in both girls’ and boys’ names, for example Nursultan. All names with nur.
bek: lord, master
Bek (Turkish bey) is an old Turkic title meaning ‘lord’ or ‘master’, traced in our sources to Proto-Turkic. In Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uzbek it ends many boys’ names, such as Aybek and Nurbek. All names with bek.
jan / can: soul, life
Jan (Turkish can, Kazakh and Kyrgyz жан, Uzbek jon) comes from Persian جان ‘soul, life’. It appears in names such as Aruzhan and Nurjan. All names with this element.
A note on reading compounds
A compound such as ‘moon + light’ gives the literal parts. The sources rarely describe a single ‘intended’ meaning for the whole name, so our pages show the parts and only add an interpretation when a source states one.