Turkey is transcontinental: most of the country is located in Western Asia, but a portion is located in Southeastern Europe. Turkey shares land borders with Greece and Bulgaria on the European side, and six other countries (including Armenia and Azerbaijan) on the Asian side.
In 2021, Turkey welcomed 1,079,842 babies — 48.7% were girls, 51.3% were boys.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Zeynep and Yusuf.
Here are Turkey’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:
Girl Names
- Zeynep
- Elif
- Asel
- Asya
- Defne
- Nehir – means “river” in Turkish.
- Azra
- Zümra – based on the Turkish word zümrüt, meaning “emerald.”
- Eylül – means “September” in Turkish.
- Ecrin
- Meryem
- Lina
- Eslem
- Masal – means “fairy tale” in Turkish.
- Ebrar
- Elisa
- Ela
- Alya
- Zehra
- Miray
- Duru
- Hiranur
- Buglem
- Ada
- Yagmur – means “rain” in Turkish.
- Esila
- Ikra
- Öykü – means “story” in Turkish.
- Gökçe (pronounced gok-cheh) – based on the Turkish word gök, meaning “sky” or “blue.”
- Melek
- Günes (pronounced goo-NESH) – means “sun” in Turkish.
- Arya
- Melisa
- Erva
- Ipek – means “silk” in Turkish.
- Ayse
- Nisa
- Kumsal – means “beach” in Turkish.
- Aysima
- Derin
- Mira
- Fatma
- Sare
- Ahsen
- Eliz
- Deniz
- Beren
- Hümeyra
- Ikranur
- Yüsra
Boy Names
- Yusuf
- Alparslan
- Miraç
- Ömer Asaf
- Eymen
- Göktug – like Gökçe, based on the Turkish word gök (“sky,” “blue”).
- Ömer
- Mustafa
- Aras
- Ali Asaf
- Ahmet
- Ali
- Kerem
- Poyraz – means “north wind” in Turkish; ultimately based upon the ancient Greek word boreas.
- Hamza
- Muhammed
- Çinar
- Mehmet
- Metehan
- Muhammed Ali
- Ayaz
- Emir
- Yigit
- Mert
- Umut
- Yunus Emre
- Ibrahim
- Alperen
- Kuzey – means “north” in Turkish.
- Miran
- Deniz
- Berat
- Doruk – means “peak” or “mountaintop” in Turkish.
- Furkan
- Emirhan
- Hasan
- Hüseyin
- Ege
- Yagiz
- Aybars
- Enes
- Atlas
- Rüzgar – means “wind” in Turkish.
- Burak
- Abdullah
- Muhammed Emin
- Ertugrul
- Ismail
- Ömer Faruk
- Eren
The girls’ top 100 included Hazal (55th), Ece (80th), Meva (94th), and Simay (98th).
The boys’ top 100 included Efe (65th), Bugra (75th), Demir (87th), and Cihangir (90th).
Finally, here are Turkey’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare.
Sources: Turkish Statistical Institute, Birth Statistics, 2021 – Turkstat, Wiktionary, Behind the Name
Image: Adapted from Flag of Turkey (public domain)