The transcontinental country of Turkey shares land borders with eight other nations: two (Greece and Bulgaria) on the European side and six (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria) on the Asian side.
In 2022, Turkey welcomed 1,035,795 babies — 48.6% were girls, and 51.4% were boys.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Zeynep and Alparslan.
Here are Turkey’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:
Girl Names
- Zeynep (has ranked either #1 or #2 for girls since 1999)
- Asel (entered the top 100 in 2016; entered the top 10 in 2018)
- Defne
- Zümra
- Elif
- Asya
- Azra
- Nehir
- Eylül
- Ecrin
- Elisa
- Masal
- Meryem
- Lina
- Ada
- Eslem
- Ebrar
- Ela
- Miray
- Zehra
- Yagmur
- Duru
- Gökçe (pronounced gok-cheh)
- Alya
- Günes (pronounced goo-NESH)
- Buglem
- Efnan (entered the top 100 in 2022)
- The sudden trendiness of Efnan is likely due to the Turkish drama Aziz (2021-2022), which featured a character named Efnan. If this series ends up airing in the U.S. in Spanish (as other Turkish dramas have recently), we may see Efnan pop up the U.S. data soon as well.
- Ikra
- Esila
- Kumsal
- Öykü
- Ipek
- Arya
- Mira
- Sare
- Hiranur
- Nisa
- Melisa
- Ayse
- Aysima
- Umay (entered the top 100 in 2020)
- Melek
- Inci
- Eliz (entered the top 100 in 2021)
- Ahsen
- Yüsra
- Beren
- Erva
- Fatma
- Belinay
Boy Names
- Alparslan (entered the top 100 in 2016)
- Yusuf (has ranked either #1 or #2 for boys since 2002)
- Miraç
- Göktug
- Ömer Asaf
- Eymen
- Ömer
- Aras
- Mustafa
- Ali Asaf
- Kerem
- Ali
- Çinar
- Hamza
- Metehan
- Ahmet
- Poyraz
- Muhammed
- Mehmet
- Muhammed Ali
- Yigit
- Atlas
- Ayaz
- Mert
- Emir
- Umut
- Miran
- Alperen
- Kuzey
- Ibrahim
- Yunus Emre
- Berat
- Deniz
- Yagiz
- Aybars
- Ege
- Doruk
- Eren
- Hüseyin
- Emirhan
- Hasan
- Furkan
- Enes
- Muhammed Alparslan (entered the top 100 in 2022)
- Burak
- Kaan
- Efe
- Rüzgar
- Muhammed Emin
- Abdullah
(Turkey’s baby name data consists of top-100 lists going back to 1980. So my notes above about names entering the top 100 only covers the last 43 years.)
The girls’ top 100 included Mihra (53rd), Neva (55th), Menesa (67th), and Asel Lina (79th).
The boys’ top 100 included Barlas (74th), Uraz (76th), Alp (87th), and Kivanç (96th).
The boy name Ragnar didn’t make Turkey’s top 100, but it did make headlines in Turkey in early 2022. That January, Güven and Sibel Arslan of the province of Diyarbakir welcomed a baby boy. They had agreed to name him Rüzgar (which means “wind” in Turkish), but Güven — a fan of the TV series Vikings — decided at the last minute to register the name Ragnar instead. Luckily, Sibel wasn’t upset about the switch, but she said she’d call the baby Rüzgar regardless.
Finally, here are Turkey’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
Sources:
- Turkish Statistical Institute
- Birth Statistics, 2022 – Turkstat
- “Named his newborn baby after the Viking King Ragnar.” Demirören Haber Ajansi 12 Jan. 2022.
- “Fan of Vikings in Turkey names child Ragnar after legendary king.” Daily Sabah 10 Jan. 2022.
Image: Adapted from Flag of Turkey (public domain)
