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Defne: what the name means and how its rank moved, 2018–2025
Our stored meaning for Defne, the language entry in our table, and TÜİK newborn ranks for each year from 2018 to 2025, when it reached first place.
Defne was in the top five of TÜİK’s national top-30 list for girls in every year from 2018 to 2025, and in the top three in seven of those years. It was first in 2024. This guide sets out what our database records about its meaning, where we list the name, and how its rank changed.
What the name means
Our stored meaning for Defne is bay laurel, with the confidence level documented. Our literal entry gives Greek dáphnē, meaning laurel. Our entry holds one meaning and no alternatives.
Our summary says the name shares its etymology with the Turkish noun defne, meaning bay laurel. That noun came into Turkish through Ottoman Turkish from the Greek word. The summary also notes that Defne is the name of a district in Hatay.
Where the name is used
Our language table has one entry for Defne: Turkish. The usage status there is recorded as unknown, so the table does not list the name for any other language. The table holds no other language rows for Defne, so the list above is the full set we record.
How often it was given in Turkey, 2018–2025
In TÜİK’s girls’ top-30 lists, Defne ranked as follows:
- 2018: rank 3, count 6,609
- 2019: rank 3, count 6,727
- 2020: rank 3, count 6,351
- 2021: rank 5, count 5,783
- 2022: rank 3, count 6,819
- 2023: rank 3, count 6,883
- 2024: rank 1, count 7,447
- 2025: rank 2, count 7,716
The count was lower in 2020 and 2021 than in 2019, and then rose in every year from 2021 to 2025. The name reached first place in 2024 and was second in 2025. Its only year outside the top three was 2021, when it was fifth. Its count was highest in 2025, at 7,716, and lowest in 2021, at 5,783.
Where the data comes from
Ranks and counts come from TÜİK’s name statistics page, which covers the most-given newborn names for 2018–2025. Our chart uses the same national top-30 lists, and a year without a point means the name was not in that year’s top 30. The counts are births in those top-30 lists, not all births in Turkey. Meanings and languages come from our own database, and confidence levels are shown as stored.
Sources
- TÜİK (Turkish Statistical Institute) – newborn-name lists, 2018–2025