Learn the basic facts about names in Turkish
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: How do Turkish names work? |
| Dilek: And what is special about Turkish names? |
| Michael: At TurkishClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben Lee hasn't heard clearly, when his new teacher was introducing himself. He asks his friend, |
| "What is our teacher's name?" |
| Ben Lee: Öğretmenimizin ismi ne? |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Öğretmenimizin ismi ne? |
| Nilgun Nevsehirli: Onun ismi, Mehmet Toprak Okuroğlu. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Öğretmenimizin ismi ne? |
| Michael: "What is our teacher's name?" |
| Nilgun Nevsehirli: Onun ismi, Mehmet Toprak Okuroğlu. |
| Dilek: "It's Mehmet Toprak Okuroğlu." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: A person's name is the most important word in the world for that individual. Just as a name is unique to the person who bears it, so are naming practices different from culture to culture. In Turkish, for instance, names are usually words that have specific meanings. For example, the name, |
| Dilek: Mesut |
| Michael: which is a given name for males, is also a word that means "happy" in the Turkish language. Meanwhile, the name |
| Dilek: İnci |
| Michael: which is a given name for females, is also a word that means "pearl" in Turkish. In all other aspects, Turkish names work the same way as those in other cultures, and are often composed of a given name, or |
| Dilek: isim or ad |
| Michael: and a surname, or |
| Dilek: soyisim or soyad. |
| Michael: As you could hear, there are two words meaning "name" in Turkish—one is of Arabic origin, the other is of Turkish origin. Both are used about the same amount in daily life. |
| [Recall] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Ben Lee asks "What is our teacher's name?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Dilek as Ben Lee: Öğretmenimizin ismi ne? |
| Michael: And do you remember how Ben's friend says "It's Mehmet Toprak Okuroğlu?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Dilek as Nilgun Nevsehirli: Onun ismi, Mehmet Toprak Okuroğlu. |
| Michael: As you can see, the teacher's full name consists of three elements: two given names and a surname. In Turkish, only one surname is included in the full name, which, in this case, is |
| Dilek: Okuroğlu |
| Michael: This is a common surname in Turkish. While one surname is included in a Turkish full name, just like in many other cultures, it's not unusual to see a middle name or |
| Dilek: göbek adı. |
| Michael: In the case of the teacher's name, the given name is |
| Dilek: Mehmet, |
| Michael: and the middle name is |
| Dilek: Toprak. |
| Michael: Both are masculine names. Usually, in everyday life, people are addressed using only one of these two given names. |
| Famous people are often known by a shortened version of their full name. Let's consider the famous poet |
| Dilek: Nâzım Hikmet. |
| Michael: His complete name is |
| Dilek: Nâzım Hikmet Ran |
| Michael: However, he's mostly known simply as |
| Dilek: Nâzım Hikmet |
| Michael: both in Turkey and abroad. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned that Turkish names work in a similar way to that of other cultures. They consist of a given name, or |
| Dilek: isim or ad |
| Michael: very often a middle name or |
| Dilek: göbek adı |
| Michael: and a surname, or |
| Dilek: soyisim or soyad. |
| Michael: Turkish full names consist of only one surname but could have more than one given name. Here's one example for a male's name with two given names. |
| Dilek: Ömer Eymen Aydın |
| Michael: Here, the surname is |
| Dilek: Aydin |
| Michael: and two given names are |
| Dilek:Ömer Eymen |
| Michael: Let's see an example of a female name: |
| Dilek: Fatma Yıldırım |
| Michael: This is a common female Turkish name consisting of one surname and one given name. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Recently, married women have been given the right to keep their birth name, but, for a long time, they were supposed to replace their family name with that of their husband's, or to choose to carry both their family name and the husband's surname. Children usually take the family name of their father. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Prior to 1934, Turkish people didn't use family names. It was only when the Surname Law was created that citizens were required to use an official surname. Before this, males would use their father's given name followed by the suffix |
| Dilek: -oğlu |
| Michael: which means "son of." With this in consideration, we can say that the person in our dialogue earlier, or |
| Dilek: Mehmet Toprak Okuroğlu |
| Michael: was the son of someone named |
| Dilek: Okur. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Dilek: Hoşçakalın! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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