Most Popular Boy Names in Turkey in 2024 (TÜİK) and Their Meanings

Every year Turkey's official statistics office, TÜİK, publishes the names most often given to newborns. At the top of the 2024 boys' list is once again Alparslan: according to TÜİK's registered births, 8,070 baby boys received the name in 2024. Alparslan has now been number one three years in a row, since 2022. Göktuğ follows with 5,674 babies and Yusuf with 4,870.

Below you will find the complete 2024 top 30 with the number of births, the meaning, origin, Arabic spelling and Abjad value of each name. Then we look at what changed compared with 2023, and at a detail of the list that is easy to miss: two-word names such as Ömer Asaf, Ali Asaf and Muhammed Ali, and how the Abjad tradition calculates them.

The 30 Most Popular Boy Names in Turkey, 2024

The figures come from births registered in Turkey that year. TÜİK counts each name in its full form, so "Ömer Asaf" and "Ömer" appear as two separate names. Abjad values are the sum of the classical Abjad values of the letters in the Arabic spelling shown. Ottoman spellings of Turkish names do not follow one fixed rule, and a different spelling gives a different value.

Source: TÜİK, Population Statistics Portal — Most Given Baby Names (nip.tuik.gov.tr). Birth counts are TÜİK's registered-birth figures.

From 2023 to 2024: Who Rose, Who Fell?

The names on the list were given to 101,247 boys in 2024, against 105,938 in 2023 (a 4.4% drop). Note: because of a tie at rank 24 (Alperen and Yiğit), the 2023 list has 31 names, so these are totals of the top 30 (31 in 2023). Even so, several names clearly gained ground:

• Aslan made the biggest leap of the year, from No. 21 to No. 7: 1,277 more babies, 3,914 in total (up 48.4%).
• Metehan climbed from No. 9 to No. 4; births went from 3,681 to 4,756 (up 29.2%).
• Miran moved from No. 23 to No. 12 (up 31.6%).
• Göktuğ and Yusuf swapped places: Göktuğ rose to second while Yusuf slipped to third (5,528 → 4,870).
• Emir was missing from the 2023 top 30 and returned in 2024 at No. 30 with 2,072 babies. In 2018 it stood at No. 9.
• Umut and İbrahim dropped out of the top 30.
• The biggest fallers were Hamza (No. 17 → No. 26), Çınar (20 → 28) and Ali (15 → 21).

Even the leader Alparslan was given to 9.7% fewer babies than in 2023: the top spot is stable, but choices are spreading out. The longer view is even clearer. Göktuğ, Metehan, Aslan, Miran, Atlas, Kuzey and Aybars were not in the 2018 top 30, while Berat, Ertuğrul, Yunus Emre, Emirhan, Deniz, Umut and İbrahim have left it since. In 2018 Alparslan was No. 30, and that year's leader, Yusuf, was given to 9,583 babies.

The Overlooked Story: Two-Word Names

Three names in the 2024 top 30 consist of two words: Ömer Asaf (No. 5, 4,237), Ali Asaf (No. 16, 2,904) and Muhammed Ali (No. 20, 2,633). A few details stand out:

• Ömer Asaf was given to more babies than plain Ömer (3,857), and Ali Asaf outnumbered plain Ali (2,616).
• Across the entries Ali, Ali Asaf and Muhammed Ali, the name Ali appears 8,153 times, more than Alparslan's 8,070. Because TÜİK ranks full names, this is not a ranking, but it shows how widely Ali is used in combinations.
• Asaf does not appear on its own in the top 30, yet as a second name it was given to 7,141 babies across two entries.
• Over the long run two-word names are declining. Between 2018 and 2024 Ömer Asaf fell by 40.7%, Ali Asaf by 40.8% and Muhammed Ali by 38.8%. From 2018 to 2021 the list also had a fourth compound, Yunus Emre.

Who was Asaf? In Islamic tradition Asaf ibn Barkhiya is known as the vizier of Prophet Solomon (Süleyman); the Hebrew root of the name is explained as "gatherer". The name Asaf itself does not occur in the Qur'an. The "one who had knowledge of the Book" in Surah an-Naml, verse 40, is traditionally identified with Asaf.

How Does Abjad Read a Two-Word Name?

In the Abjad tradition a two-word name is written as two separate words and the values of both parts are added together. Turkish compounds such as Göktuğ, Metehan or Alperen, by contrast, are written as a single word. The three two-word names on the list work out like this:

This small table tells us three things:

1. A shared part adds a fixed amount. Asaf (آصف) always adds 171. So the gap between Ömer Asaf and Ali Asaf equals the gap between Ömer and Ali: exactly 200.
2. A second name can shift the element balance. In Muhammed (محمد), 80 of the total 92 comes from the two letters م, which are Fire letters. Adding Ali brings Earth letters (ع and ل) to the front: in Muhammed Ali, Earth totals 112 and Fire 80. In Ali Asaf, Earth and Air are exactly equal at 100 each: Ali leans to Earth, while the ص in Asaf brings the weight of Air.
3. Same spelling, same value. Muhammed and Mehmet are written with the same letters (محمد), so both are worth 92. The highest values on the list belong to Metehan (1096) and Göktuğ (1061); in Göktuğ the single letter غ carries 1000. The lowest belongs to Ayaz (19).

Question: If a child is named Ömer Asaf, which value counts, 481 or 310?

Answer: Tradition looks at the total of the full name, but the parts can also be read separately. A number has no "good" or "bad" meaning on its own; it becomes meaningful when set beside the parents' names. That is why the same name can produce a very different picture in two different families.

And What Happened in 2025?

TÜİK has also released its 2025 figures, which we cover in a separate article. One small hint related to this topic: only two of the two-word names remained in the 2025 top 30.

A Short Checklist for Parents Considering a Two-Word Name

• Say both names aloud together with the surname. Do the stress and the flow feel natural?
• Decide which part will be used day to day. Usually one part takes over.
• Learn the meaning of each name separately. A name like Asaf can come from a different language than the first name.
• Look at the Abjad value not only as a total but also part by part. Compatibility with the family also depends on which elements each part brings.

The Abjad and element information in this article is for general knowledge. It describes traditional interpretations and does not claim that a name determines a person's life. Choosing a name is, above all, the family's own decision.