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: 7961
Scripts in our data: Latin
ISO 639-1: tr

Browse Turkish names

3,744 names · page 119 of 156

Sacide
“one who prostrates in prayer”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesEditorial
Sadakat
“loyalty, fidelity”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex3 syllablesEditorial
Sadberk
“hundred-petaled”
From Persian · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesEditorial
Sadedil
“pure-hearted”
From Persian · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesEditorial
Sadegül
“plain, pure rose”
From Persian · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesEditorial
Sadhezar
“a hundred thousand; very beautiful”
From Persian · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesEditorial
Sadice
“plain, pure”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesEditorial
Sadıka
“true, loyal friend”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesEditorial
Şadıman
“joyful, cheerful”
From Persian · Turkish
Unisex3 syllablesEditorial
Sadiye
“happy, fortunate”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesEditorial
Sadriye
“relating to the chest”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesEditorial
Safa
“clarity, clearness”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesLikely
Şafak
“dawn”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesDocumented
Şafaknur
“light of dawn”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex3 syllablesEditorial
Safıgül
“pure flower”
From Arabic and Persian · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesEditorial

Safinaz
“pure grace”
From Arabic and Persian · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesEditorial
Safinur
“pure light”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesEditorial
Safir
“sapphire”
From Hebrew · Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesEditorial
Safire
“clear voice; whistle”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex3 syllablesEditorial
Safiye
“pure”
From Ottoman Turkish and Arabic · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesDocumented
Safiyet
“purity”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesEditorial
Sağbudun
“healthy, pure people”
Turkish
Unisex3 syllablesEditorial
Sağman
“healthy person; flawless”
Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesEditorial
Şahanə
“royal, regal”
From Persian · Turkish, Azerbaijani
Girl3 syllablesEditorial

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):

Turkic
4158
Arabic
2170
Persian
1209
Greek
42
Mongolic
39
Hebrew
28
French
14

Counted from 7961 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 · Tajik

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.