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

444 names · page 9 of 19

Keleşhan
“handsome ruler”
From Turkic · Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Keleştimur
“handsome iron”
From Turkic · Turkish
Boy4 syllablesEditorial
Kemal
“perfection, maturity”
From Arabic · Turkish, Uyghur, Kazakh, Azerbaijani
Boy2 syllablesDocumented
Kemalettin
“perfection of the faith”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy4 syllablesEditorial
Kemandar
“bowman, archer”
From Persian · Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Kemter
“lesser, humbler; incomplete”
From Persian · Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesEditorial
Kənan
“lowland”
From Arabic · Turkish, Azerbaijani
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Kent
“city”
From Northern Kurdish · Turkish
Boy1 syllableLikely
Kepez
“high mountain; cave; bridal headdress; bird crest”
Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Keramet
“gift; hospitality”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex3 syllablesEditorial
Keramettin
“wondrous gift of the faith”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex4 syllablesEditorial
Kerboğa
“variant of Gerboğa; name of a medieval emir of Mosul”
Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Kerem
“nobleness, kindness; generosity”
From Arabic · Turkish, Uyghur, Azerbaijani
Boy2 syllablesDocumented
Keremşah
“king of generosity”
From Arabic and Persian · Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Kerim
“noble; generous, precious”
From Arabic · Turkish, Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijani, Turkmen
Boy2 syllablesDocumented

Kerimhan
“generous ruler”
From Arabic and Turkic · Turkish
Unisex3 syllablesEditorial
Kervan
“caravan”
From Persian · Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesEditorial
Kesek
“clod of earth turned by a hoe; piece of turf”
Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Keşfi
“relating to discovery”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesEditorial
Keşfiye
“relating to discovery; discoverer”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesEditorial
Kesim
“agreement; stature, build; section; harvest season”
From Turkic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Keskinay
“sharp moon”
Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Keskinel
“of sharp, forceful character”
From Turkic · Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Keskiner
“man of sharp, forceful character”
Turkish
Boy3 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.