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

7,961 names · page 272 of 332

Sükan
“soldier of noble stock”
Turkish
Boy2 syllablesEditorial
Şükran
“gratitude”
Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesDocumented
Şükriye
“thankfulness”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesEditorial
Şükrü
“of thanks, thanking”
From Arabic · Turkish, Azerbaijani
Boy2 syllablesDocumented
Şükufə
“blossom”
From Persian · Turkish, Azerbaijani
Girl3 syllablesEditorial
Sukuşu
“a bird that lives along water banks”
Turkish
Unisex3 syllablesEditorial
Sulbiye
“descent from someone's line”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesEditorial
Şule
“flame”
Turkish
Girl2 syllablesDocumented
Sülemiş
“one who sends troops against the enemy”
Turkish
Boy3 syllablesEditorial
Süleyman
“Solomon (Prophet Sulaiman)”
From Hebrew · Turkish, Uyghur, Azerbaijani, Turkmen
Boy3 syllablesDocumented
Sulhiye
“relating to peace”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesEditorial
Sultan
“power, authority; sultan”
From Arabic · Turkish, Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijani, Tatar, Bashkir
Boy2 syllablesDocumented
Sülün
“pheasant; slender and graceful”
From Turkic · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesEditorial
Sülünay
“pheasant moon”
Turkish
Girl3 syllablesEditorial
Sülünbike
“pheasant-like lady”
Turkish
Girl4 syllablesEditorial

Sümbül
“hyacinth”
From Persian · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesEditorial
Sümbülveş
“hyacinth-like”
From Persian · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesEditorial
Sumer
“the ancient Sumerians”
Turkish
Unisex2 syllablesEditorial
Sümerkan
“Sumerian lineage”
Turkish
Unisex3 syllablesEditorial
Sümeyra
“little brunette”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl3 syllablesEditorial
Sümeyre
“fruit blossom; curled leaf”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex3 syllablesEditorial
Sümeyye
“high, lofty”
From Arabic · Turkish, Azerbaijani
Girl2 syllablesEditorial
Sumru
“top, highest part of something”
From Arabic · Turkish
Girl2 syllablesEditorial
Sun
“making; work; deed; command form of 'to offer'; gentle person”
From Arabic · Turkish
Unisex1 syllableEditorial

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.