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

75 names · page 3 of 4

Vehbi
“gift”
From Ottoman Turkish and Arabic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesDocumented
Vehip
“gift, bestowal”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Vəli
“friend, guardian”
From Arabic · Turkish, Azerbaijani
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Velican
“dear guardian”
Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Velit
“newborn child; male child”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Veliyüddin
“friend of the faith”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Veliyullah
“friend of God”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Veral
“give and take”
Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Verdî
“relating to roses”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesEditorial
Vergi
“natural talent”
From Turkic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Vergili
“generous”
From Turkic · Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Vergin
“giving, selfless”
From Turkic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Verim
“yield, productivity”
From Turkic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Verşan
“become renowned”
From Turkic and Arabic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Vesamet
“beauty, good looks”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex3 syllablesEditorial

Vesik
“firm, strong”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Vesim
“handsome”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Veyis
“form of the Arabic name Uways”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy1 syllableEditorial
Veysel
“form of the Arabic name Uways”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Veysî
“form of the Arabic name Uways”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Vicdan
“conscience”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesEditorial
Vicdanî
“conscientious”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Visalî
“relating to union and meeting”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Visam
“mark, sign, badge”
From Arabic · Turkish
Boy2 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.