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.
- Published names
- 7961
- Scripts in our data
- Latin
- ISO 639-1
- tr
Browse Turkish names
299 names · page 10 of 13
- “man of the east”From Turkic · TurkishBoy2 syllablesEditorial
- “khan of the east”From Turkic · TurkishBoy3 syllablesEditorial
- “khan of the east”From Turkic · TurkishBoy3 syllablesEditorial
- “birth, rise”From Turkic · TurkishBoy2 syllablesEditorial
- “wander (command form of dolanmak); filled”From Turkic · Turkish, KazakhBoy2 syllablesEditorial
- “roaming man”From Turkic · TurkishBoy3 syllablesEditorial
- “of lion-strong stock”From Turkic · TurkishUnisex3 syllablesEditorial
- “surroundings, vicinity; border; foothills”From Turkic · TurkishBoy2 syllablesEditorial
- “dignified and well-mannered; alert; skilled; honest”From Turkic · TurkishBoy2 syllablesEditorial
- “calm, peaceful person”From Turkic · TurkishUnisex2 syllablesEditorial
- “variant of Tolun: full moon”From Turkic · TurkishUnisex2 syllablesEditorial
- “full moon”From Turkic · TurkishUnisex3 syllablesDocumented
- “a mound or slope; a district in western Turkey”TurkishBoy3 syllablesEditorial
- “donut”From English · TurkishBoy2 syllablesLikely
- “steadfast, one who keeps his word”From Turkic · TurkishBoy2 syllablesEditorial
- “unwavering soul”From Turkic and Persian · TurkishBoy3 syllablesEditorial
- “man who keeps his word”From Turkic · TurkishBoy3 syllablesEditorial
- “unwavering lineage”From Turkic · TurkishBoy3 syllablesEditorial
- “unwavering prince”From Turkic · TurkishBoy4 syllablesEditorial
- “repentance; return”From Turkic · TurkishUnisex2 syllablesEditorial
- “mountain summit; the top or highest point of something”From Turkic · TurkishBoy2 syllablesEditorial
- “hilltop, highest point, summit”From Turkic · TurkishUnisex2 syllablesEditorial
- “bay horse; peak”From Turkic · TurkishBoy2 syllablesEditorial
- “summit, peak”From Turkic · TurkishBoy2 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):
- Turkic4158
- Arabic2170
- Persian1209
- Greek42
- Mongolic39
- Hebrew28
- French14
Counted from 7961 published entries. Each name page explains its own etymology with sources.
Turkish names by meaning
Explore related languages
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.

