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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Turkish names

30 replies

Thenadish · 29/02/2016 21:24

First baby due June, mum is Turkish Cypriot / English with family of Turkish names and Dad is English with a family of traditional English and biblical names. We are after a name that can be pronounced by English people and our Turkish family, preferably using the Turkish spelling.

Ideas welcomed! (Both genders please) x

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Fugghetaboutit · 01/03/2016 12:32

My great aunt was Emine, beautiful lovely woman Smile

CoteDAzur · 01/03/2016 10:15

Emine is the Turkish equivalent of Amina (Arabic)

Other names on this thread that come from Arabic:

Ayse (Aysha)
Safiye (Safiyya)
Leyla (Layla)
Rabia
Rana

Hall (Khalil)
Hasan (Hassan)
Mehmet (Mohammad)
Mesut (Massoud)

FuckOffDavid · 01/03/2016 10:10

I know a beautiful wee Turkish girl called Emine, not sure if it is a Turkish or Arabic name though.

Fugghetaboutit · 01/03/2016 09:00

Koray - my nephews name means amber moon Smile
Halil
Hasan
Erol
Aydin
Levent

Deniz - sea
Meral
Senay
Selen
Hayriye

CoteDAzur · 01/03/2016 08:02

Sorry, I'll correct some of these. Turks don't do creative spelling, because the language is written 100% phonetically. All names mean something and many are words currently used in everyday language, so if you are going to invent a name (which is very rare) you still need to write it correctly.

Deriya Derya ("sea" - girl or boy)
Kayla - Not a Turkish name. I think it's Eastern European. Greek?
Enes Enis
Zerin Zerrin (old woman's name)
Layla Leyla
Tanner Taner

babyand · 01/03/2016 02:35

For girls I like:

Ayse
Sevda
Senay
Ceren
Elif
Azra
Çemre
Emine
Ayla
Derya
Ela
Safiye

For boys:

Arda
Emre
Aydin
Evren
Kaya
Tanner
Taylan

These are just some of my faves. Blush

Sadmother · 01/03/2016 02:02

We had a babysitter called Senay, her daughter was Yasemin and her son Emre. All very pretty names.

Hberries · 01/03/2016 01:25

Girls:
Melis, Selin, Deniz, Leyla, Ayla
Boys:
Sinan, Bener, Aydan,

English/ international names that are easily pronounced by Turkish speakers: James, Isabella, Ben, Charles, Robert, Sienna, Olivia,

MangosteenSoda · 01/03/2016 01:02

I met a Turkish Melis (pron Mel-eece). Pretty girl with a pretty name!

Fugghetaboutit · 01/03/2016 01:01

Ayla
Ayse (Aysha)
Layla
Pembe (pink)
Dilara
Elif
Esma
Esra

Mehmet
Kerem
Timur
Taylan
Cem (Jem)

MyFriendsCallMeOh · 01/03/2016 00:51

I knew a Turkish Cypriot girl called Zerin (zeh-reen) growing up, not sure if this is a traditional name or its meaning but I always thought it was pretty.

Sophronia · 01/03/2016 00:29

Evren

CocktailQueen · 29/02/2016 23:12

I know an Enes (8yo) - no idea what it means, but lovely boy.

AuntJane · 29/02/2016 23:10

For girls, Kayla, Rabia, Suzan.

Izlet · 29/02/2016 22:25

Cote, yes I am. Sorry for the bad description! Grin

OttiliaVonBCup · 29/02/2016 22:10

Sevda

means love, but more dark, passionate, sometimes forbidden.
I think

OverAndAbove · 29/02/2016 22:08

I love Ayse for a girl; fairly sure that's Turkish. There are some really lovely names here!

maitaimojito · 29/02/2016 22:05

I know a Mesut, Bilal, Emre and Nazmi which I find easy to pronounce.

AnneElliott · 29/02/2016 22:04

I like Deriya for a girl. My friend is called Dee for short.

BatmanLovesPeaceAndQuiet · 29/02/2016 21:58

Never knew Devrim means revolution - every day's a learning day!

CoteDAzur · 29/02/2016 21:55

Izlet - No, Ezgi has a normal-sounding i at the end. Like the i in it.

"Strangled i" Grin Are you thinking of the letter "i without a dot"?

VocationalGoat · 29/02/2016 21:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Izlet · 29/02/2016 21:51

Of the more phonetic girls' names I can think of Defne, Ipek (meaning silk), I like Ezgi a lot but I thought it had the "strangled" I at the end (for want of a better expression) so that might be hard for English speakers. One of my friends is called Nursel which I quite like too, but she's a bit older so maybe it's not a modern name. Her daughter is called Evin, which is also nice.

Other Turkish names I know all have the j sounding c or else lots of umlauts, or else are quite harsh sounding to English ears.

EskiVodkaCranberry · 29/02/2016 21:50

I know a Devran he's gorgeous!

CoteDAzur · 29/02/2016 21:46

Boys:

Ege (Aegean)
Atilla (yes, it's a Turkish name Smile)
Efe (strong, brave man of the Aegean region)
Derya (sea)
Utku (goal)
Ozan (poet)
Deniz (sea)
Derin (deep)
Hakan (khan, king)
Erhan (same as above)