Baby Name: Ece

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

1. Zeynep
2. Elif
3. Asel
4. Asya
5. Defne
6. Nehir – means “river” in Turkish.
7. Azra
8. Zümra – based on the Turkish word zümrüt, meaning “emerald.”
9. Eylül – means “September” in Turkish.
10. Ecrin
11. Meryem
12. Lina
13. Eslem
14. Masal – means “fairy tale” in Turkish.
15. Ebrar
16. Elisa
17. Ela
18. Alya
19. Zehra
20. Miray
21. Duru
22. Hiranur
23. Buglem
24. Ada
25. Yagmur – means “rain” in Turkish.
26. Esila
27. Ikra
28. Öykü – means “story” in Turkish.
29. Gökçe (pronounced gok-cheh) – based on the Turkish word gök, meaning “sky” or “blue.”
30. Melek
31. Günes (pronounced goo-NESH) – means “sun” in Turkish.
32. Arya
33. Melisa
34. Erva
35. Ipek – means “silk” in Turkish.
36. Ayse
37. Nisa
38. Kumsal – means “beach” in Turkish.
39. Aysima
40. Derin
41. Mira
42. Fatma
43. Sare
44. Ahsen
45. Eliz
46. Deniz
47. Beren
48. Hümeyra
49. Ikranur
50. Yüsra

Boy Names

1. Yusuf
2. Alparslan
3. Miraç
4. Ömer Asaf
5. Eymen
6. Göktug – like Gökçe, based on the Turkish word gök (“sky,” “blue”).
7. Ömer
8. Mustafa
9. Aras
10. Ali Asaf
11. Ahmet
12. Ali
13. Kerem
14. Poyraz – means “north wind” in Turkish; ultimately based upon the ancient Greek word boreas.
15. Hamza
16. Muhammed
17. Çinar
18. Mehmet
19. Metehan
20. Muhammed Ali
21. Ayaz
22. Emir
23. Yigit
24. Mert
25. Umut
26. Yunus Emre
27. Ibrahim
28. Alperen
29. Kuzey – means “north” in Turkish.
30. Miran
31. Deniz
32. Berat
33. Doruk – means “peak” or “mountaintop” in Turkish.
34. Furkan
35. Emirhan
36. Hasan
37. Hüseyin
38. Ege
39. Yagiz
40. Aybars
41. Enes
42. Atlas
43. Rüzgar – means “wind” in Turkish.
44. Burak
45. Abdullah
46. Muhammed Emin
47. Ertugrul
48. Ismail
49. Ömer Faruk
50. 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 by hilmi ceper from Pixabay