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Türkiye Naming Customs


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Understanding customs used in surnames and given names can help you identify your ancestors in records. Learn to recognize name variations and see clues in names.

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Surnames

  • Until the introduction of the Surname Law in 1934, most Turks had no surnames.
  • Before that, male Turks often used their father's name followed by -oğlu ("son of"), or a nickname of the family, before their given name (e.g. Mustafa-oğlu Mehmet, Köselerin Hasan).
  • Before this, the traditional practice was for wives and children to take their husband’s/father’s personal name as a last name.[1]
  • A family name ending in –OĞLU is Turkish. The –OĞLU ending is sometimes written separately from the preceding part of the family name, but both parts are needed to record the correct family name. For example:
SARCOĞLU or SARC OĞLU
SULEYMANOĞLU or SULEYMAN OĞLU
  • When women marry, they typically replace their own family name with their husband’s. However, some women use a combination of both family names. For example, if Fatma KARABACAK married Mehmet KEÇELI, she could be known as Fatma KARABACAK KEÇELI or just Fatma KEÇELI.
  • Children typically take the father’s family name.[2]

Given Names

  • At least one name, often two but very rarely more, are given to a person at birth. Newly given names are allowed up to three words.
  • Most names are gender-specific: Oğuz is strictly for males, Tuğçe only for females. But there are many Turkish names which are unisex.
  • Turkish names are often words with specific meanings in the Turkish language.
  • Since 1928, only letters in the Turkish alphabet may be used on birth certificates.
  • Turkish alphabet has no Q, W, or X. Names including those be cannot be officially given unless they are transliterated into Turkish.
  • Some religious families give second names of Arabic origin, which can be names of important figures in the religion of Islam such as Muhammed and Ali. Some of these names have evolved in time, differentiating from the Arabic original, as in the case of Mehmet (the original name (Muhammed).[3]

For Further Reading

FamilySearch Library

Additional sources are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog:

Arabic Naming Customs

Surnames

Because so many components can be used (or not) in a name, the same man may be called:

Ahmad Husain
Ahmad Husain Muhammad
Ahmad bin Husain bin Muhammad
Ahmad Husain Muhammad ibn Sa’ud AL-TIKRITI
Ahmad Husain AL-TIKRITI
Abu Muhammad Ahmad Husain
Abu Muhammad (unlikely on official documents)

Basic Components

Assume a man is called Saleh ibn Tariq ibn Khalid al-Fulan.

  • Saleh is his personal name, and the one that his family and friends would call him by.
  • ibn and bin translates as "son of";;;, so Tariq is Saleh's father's name.
  • ibn Khalid means that Tariq is the son of Khalid, making Khalid the grandfather of Saleh.
  • al-Fulan would be Saleh's family name.

Hence, Saleh ibn Tariq ibn Khalid al-Fulan translates as "Saleh, son of Tariq, son of Khalid; whom is of the family of al-Fulan."

The Arabic for "daughter of" is bint. A woman with the name Fatimah bint Tariq ibn Khalid al-Goswami translates as "Fatimah, daughter of Tariq, son of Khalid; whom is of the family al-Goswami."

If Saleh marries a wife (who would keep her own maiden, family, and surnames), their children will take Saleh's family name. Therefore, their son Mohammed would be called Mohammed ibn Saleh ibn Tariq al-Fulan. [4]

Al- or El-

  • A family name frequently begins with AL-, or EL-, e.g. AL-QADHAFI,nbut the family name can also be written without it, i.e. QADHAFI.
  • Some family names are derived from geographical place names, e.g. AL-TIKRITI (from Tikrit), AL-BAGHDADI (from Baghdad), AL-MASRI (‘the Egyptian’), and can indicate a family’s origins.


Even More Components

The following components may also be included in a full version of an Arabic name:

a. ancestral name: derived from an honoured ancestor, this name typically begins with Al- or ibn: e.g. Al-Husain, ibn Sau’d;
b. honorific title as parent: Abu… (N. Africa Bu / Bou) meaning ‘father of…’ and Umm… meaning ‘mother of…’ can be added to the beginning of a name in conjunction with the name of the individual’s eldest child, usually the eldest son:
Abu Muhammad - ‘father of Muhammad’
Umm Muhammad - ‘mother of Muhammad’.
c. "Abu" can also be used as part of a name to signify possession of a quality or feature, e.g. Abu al-Fadl (‘father of merit’).

Given Names

  • An Arab typically has just one personal name. This may be simple, e.g. Husain, Muhammad, or may be a compound.
  • Compound names should not be separated, e.g:
  • a. names beginning with Abd / Abd al / Abdul (‘servant/servant of’) combined with one of the names of Allah (‘God’): e.g.
Abd Ullah / Abdullah
Abd al-Rahman / Abdul-Rahman
Abd al-Aziz / Abdul-Aziz;
  • b. names ending in al-din / ad-din / el-din / eddin / uddin (‘of the religion’): e.g. Noor-al-din / Nooreddin;
  • c. names ending in -allah (‘God’): e.g. Habiballah / Habib-allah.

Naming Patterns

Namesake[5] Child
Paternal grandfather 1st son
Maternal grandfather 2nd son
Father 3rd son
Father's oldest brother 4th son
Maternal grandmother 1st daughter
Paternal grandmother 2nd daughter
Mother 3rd daughter
Mother's oldest sister 4th daughter

Arab Christian

To an extent Arab Christians have names indistinguishable from Muslims, except some explicitly Islamic names, e.g. Muhammad. Some common Christian names are:

  • Arabic versions of Christian names (e.g. saints' names: Buṭrus for Saint Peter).
  • Names of Greek, Armenian, and Aramaic or Neo-Aramaic origin.
  • Use of European names, especially French, Greek and, to a lesser extent, Spanish ones (in Morocco). This has been a relatively recent centuries-long convention for Christian Arabs, especially in the Levant. For example: Émile Eddé, George Habash, Charles Helou, Camille Chamoun.
  • Names in honor of Jesus Christ:
  • Abd al-Yasuʿ (masc. ) / Amat al-Yasuʿ (fem.) ("Servant of Jesus")
  • Abd al-Masiḥ (masc.) / Amat al-Masiḥ (fem.) ("Servant of the Messiah")
  • Derivations of Maseeḥ ("Messiah"): Masūḥun ("Most Anointed"), Amsāḥ ("More Anointed"), Mamsūḥ "Anointed" and Musayḥ "Infant Christ". The root, M-S-Ḥ, means "to anoint" (as in masah) and is cognate to the Hebrew Mashiah.

Muhammad

Such is the popularity of the name Muhammad throughout parts of Africa, Arabia, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia, it is often represented by the abbreviation "Md.", "Mohd.", "Muhd.", or just "M.". In India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, due to its almost ubiquitous use as a first name, a person will often be referred to by their second name:

  • Md. Dinar Ibn Raihan
  • Mohd. Umair Tanvir
  • Md. Osman

For Further Reading

Kurdish Naming Customs

Surnames

  • Many Iraqi Kurds have adopted Arabic naming customs.
  • Some Iraqi Kurds and Kurds in other countries, such as Türkiye (Türkiye), have a geographical or tribal name as a last name or have adopted a grandfather’s or great grandfather’s personal name as a family name.
  • Familial relationships:
Kurdish women do not traditionally take their husband’s family name on marriage, although some may do so in Western societies.
Children typically adopt their father’s family name.

Given Names

  • There are some traditional Kurdish names still in use.
a. male personal names: Diaco, Kochar, Redoir, Roj, Jochar, Sherko;
b. female personal names: Aveen, Awat, Dilsoz, Sidar, Zhian.
  • Some Kurds use their father’s/grandfather’s or mother’s/grandmother’s personal name as a middle name:e.g.,
(husband) Haval BARZANI
(wife) Aveen SINJARI
(son) Diaco Haval BARZANI
(daughter) Sidar Aveen BARZANI

For Further Reading

References

  1. ↑ "Turkish name", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_name, 6 March 2021.
  2. ↑ "A GUIDE TO NAMES AND NAMING PRACTICES, UK Names Guide", by UK Government, https://www.fbiic.gov/public/2008/nov/Naming_practice_guide_UK_2006.pdf, accessed 6 March 2021.
  3. ↑ "Turkish name", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_name, 6 March 2021.
  4. ↑ "Arabic name", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_name, accessed 9 March 2021.
  5. ↑ Marefa contributors, "علم_الأنساب," in Marefa.org, https://www.marefa.org/%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%A8, 22 December 2022.
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