Language guide

Turkish Names: Meanings, Origins & Traditions

Turkish names are recorded here in the modern Turkish Latin alphabet, which replaced the Arabic-based Ottoman script in 1928. Because Ottoman Turkish absorbed a large Arabic and Persian vocabulary, many familiar Turkish names, such as Elif or Emir, go back to Arabic or Persian words, while others, such as Arslan or Aynur, contain native Turkic elements. Each entry states which of these applies, based on the cited sources.

Türkçe

Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family

Published names: 541
Scripts in our data: Latin
ISO 639-1: tr

Browse Turkish names

541 names · page 1 of 23

Abbas
“stern, frowning”
From Arabic · Turkish, Uyghur, Kazakh, Azerbaijani, Bashkir
Boy2 syllablesDocumented
Abdülhamit
“slave of The Most Praised”
From Ottoman Turkish and Arabic · Turkish
Boy4 syllablesDocumented
Abdullah
“servant of God”
From Arabic · Turkish, Uyghur, Kazakh, Azerbaijani, Bashkir
Boy3 syllablesDocumented
Abdurrahman
“slave of The Most Compassionate”
From Ottoman Turkish and Arabic · Turkish
Boy4 syllablesDocumented
Açelya
“azalea (shrub or tree)”
From Ancient Greek · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesLikely
Acun
“world”
Turkish
Boy2 syllablesDocumented
Ada
“island”
From Ottoman Turkish · Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesDocumented
Adalet
“justice, fairness”
From Arabic · Turkish, Uyghur
Girl3 syllablesDocumented
Adil
“just, fair”
From Arabic · Turkish, Uyghur, Kazakh, Azerbaijani
Boy2 syllablesDocumented
Adnan
“settler”
From Ottoman Turkish and Arabic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesDocumented
Afet
“calamity, disaster”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesLikely
Ahenk
“harmony”
From Turkmen · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesLikely
Ahmet
“more praiseworthy; most praiseworthy”
From Arabic · Turkish, Uyghur, Kazakh, Azerbaijani
Boy2 syllablesDocumented
Ahu
“gazelle, deer”
From Persian · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesDocumented
Akay
“white + moon”
From Proto-Turkic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesLikely

Akdoğan
“gyrfalcon”
Turkish
Boy3 syllablesDocumented
Akgül
“white rose; white flower”
From Turkic and Persian · Turkish, Kazakh
Girl2 syllablesDocumented
Akgün
“white + day”
From Proto-Turkic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesLikely
Akın
“flow, rush; raid”
From Proto-Turkic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesDocumented
Albina
“white”
From Latin · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesDocumented
Ali
“high, exalted”
From Arabic · Turkish, Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijani, Bashkir
Boy2 syllablesDocumented
Aliye
“high, exalted (feminine)”
From Arabic · Turkish, Uyghur, Kazakh
Girl2 syllablesDocumented
Alp
“brave, hero”
Turkish
Boy1 syllableDocumented
Alper
“brave + warrior”
From Turkic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesDocumented

How Turkish names are written

Modern Turkish uses a 29-letter Latin alphabet introduced in 1928. Letters such as ç, ğ, ı, İ, ö, ş and ü matter for spelling: Gülnur and Gulnur are different spellings, and the dotless ı is a separate letter from i. Search on this site ignores these marks, but entries always show the documented spelling.

Where Turkish names come from

A name used in Turkish is not automatically Turkish in origin. Here is how the documented origins of the Turkish names published so far break down (a name with elements from two languages counts under both):

Arabic
238
Turkic
183
Persian
92
Greek
17
Hebrew
10
West
8
Azerbaijani
6

Counted from 541 published entries. Each name page explains its own etymology with sources.

Turkish names by meaning

Turkish belongs to the Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages, together with Azerbaijani and Turkmen. Related languages share many words, but a name is listed under a language only when it is documented there.

Other languages: Uyghur · Kazakh · Kyrgyz · Uzbek · Tatar · Bashkir

References for this page

Wikipedia contributors. Turkic languages. Wikimedia Foundation, revision 1377797900. Accessed 2026-10-28. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikipedia contributors. Turkish alphabet. Wikimedia Foundation, revision 1381762599. Accessed 2026-10-28. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.