The Turkic languages are written in three main alphabets today, and the choice depends on the language and the country more than on the name. When you research a name, you will often meet the same name in several shapes.<\/p>\n
Take the documented Kazakh name \u0413\u04af\u043b\u043d\u04b1\u0440<\/em> (see G\u00fclnur<\/a>). In Latin letters it may appear as G\u00fclnur or Gulnur depending on the romanization. Kyrgyz writes the same name \u0413\u04af\u043b\u043d\u0443\u0440<\/em>. None of these is wrong; they follow different alphabets.<\/p>\n Letters that look like decoration often matter. Turkish distinguishes dotted i<\/em> from dotless \u0131<\/em>, and \u00fc<\/em> from u<\/em>. Kazakh Cyrillic adds letters such as \u04d9, \u0493, \u049b, \u04a3, \u04e9, \u04b1, \u04af, \u04bb<\/em> and \u0456<\/em>. Uzbek uses o\u02bb<\/em> and g\u02bb<\/em>. The Uyghur Arabic alphabet writes all vowels, so a Uyghur spelling usually tells you how the name is pronounced.<\/p>\n A transliteration converts letters from one alphabet to another by a fixed system; it does not change the name. On TurkicNames, every form is shown exactly as the source records it, and romanizations are labelled with their system (for example ULY for Uyghur). We never generate spellings automatically, because an automatic conversion can produce forms that no one actually uses.<\/p>\n If you live outside the region, the practical question is which spelling will be written on documents. Some registration systems accept only certain letters: Turkish birth certificates, for example, may use only letters of the Turkish alphabet. Check the rules where you will register the birth, and look at the recorded forms on the name page to see which spellings are documented.<\/p>\n G\u00fclnur, \u0413\u04af\u043b\u043d\u04b1\u0440 and a Uyghur Arabic spelling can all be the same name. Here is why Turkic names change shape across alphabets, and how to choose a spelling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tn_meta_description":"Why Turkic names are spelled differently in Turkish, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Uyghur: Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic alphabets, transliteration, and choosing a spelling.","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.turkicnames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.turkicnames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.turkicnames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.turkicnames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.turkicnames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cms.turkicnames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.turkicnames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.turkicnames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.turkicnames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.turkicnames.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Transliteration is not translation<\/h2>\n
Choosing a spelling for your child<\/h2>\n
Sources<\/h2>\n
\n