Last year, the country of Turkey (located largely in Asia) welcomed 937,369 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Defne and Alparslan.
Turkey’s official rankings included just 30 names per gender this time around, so here are the top 30 girl names and top 30 boy names of 2024:
Girl names
- Defne, 7,466 baby girls
- Asel, 7,347
- Zeynep, 6,540
- Asya, 5,041
- Gökçe, 4,759
- Zümra, 4,685
- Elif, 4,203
- Elisa, 4,197
- Lina, 3,655
- Duru, 3,389
- Umay, 3,348
- Mihra, 3,271
- Inci, 3,179
- Efnan, 3,151
- Miray, 3,069
- Alya, 2,883
- Doga, 2,800
- Meryem, 2,722
- Nehir, 2,651
- Eylül, 2,636
- Ebrar, 2,610 (tie)
- Ecrin, 2,610 (tie)
- Masal, 2,606
- Günes, 2,521
- Azra, 2,505
- Eslem, 2,463
- Ela, 2,422
- Ikra, 2,404
- Ada, 2,360
- Aden, 2,236
Boy names
- Alparslan, 8,088 baby boys
- Göktug, 5,683
- Yusuf, 4,880
- Metehan, 4,762
- Ömer Asaf, 4,244
- Kerem, 4,207
- Aslan, 3,920
- Ömer, 3,869
- Miraç, 3,743
- Eymen, 3,676
- Aras, 3,562
- Miran, 3,356
- Atlas, 3,345
- Poyraz, 3,073
- Muhammed, 2,929
- Ali Asaf, 2,913
- Mustafa, 2,907
- Alperen, 2,834
- Ayaz, 2,693
- Muhammed Ali, 2,640
- Ali, 2,625
- Ahmet, 2,585
- Kuzey, 2,578
- Yigit, 2,463
- Aybars, 2,457
- Hamza, 2,446
- Mehmet, 2,406
- Çinar, 2,377
- Mert, 2,138
- Emir, 2,076
The last time I posted rankings for Turkey, in 2022, the top girl name was Zeynep.
P.S. The Turkish letters G-with-a-breve, S-with-a-cedilla, dotted-I, and dotless-i don’t render properly on my site, so please imagine they exist in several of the above: the girl names Inci, Doga, Günes, and Ikra, and the boy names Göktug, Yigit, and Çinar.
Sources:
- Turkish Statistical Institute (specifically, Istatistiklerle Çocuk, 2024)
- “Minister reveals Türkiye’s baby statistics for 2024.” Hürriyet Daily News 20 Jan. 2025.
Image: Adapted from Flag of Turkey (public domain)
