Nearly 1.2 million babies born in Turkey in 2019

ANKARA

Almost 1.2 million babies were born in Turkey in 2019, according to data made public by the Interior Ministry’s General Directorate of Civil Registration and Citizenship.

Of the 1,180,840 babies born, 8,816 male babies were named Yusuf, and 6,857 male babies were named Eymen.

The most popular names given to female babies were Zeynep, with 13,420, followed by Elif, with 8,586.

Other popular names given to babies were Miraç, Ömer Asaf, Ömer, Mustafa, Kerem and Miran for males and Defne, Asel, Azra, Eylül, Ebrar and Asya for females.

The most popular name for male Turkish citizens is Mehmet, with 2,737,031 Mehmets across the world. There are 2,068,092 Mehmets and 1,724,223 Ahmets, according to official data.

Fatma is the most popular name among female Turkish citizens: There are 2,678,292 citizens named Fatma. Ayşe comes second with 2,033,814 citizens bearing the name, followed by Emine with 1,594,873.

Other popular names for Turkish citizens include Ali, Hüseyin, Hasan, İbrahim, İsmail, Yusuf and Osman for males and Hatice, Zeynep, Elif, Meryem, Şerife, Zehra and Sultan for females.

Mehmet is the most common name for male Turkish citizens, and Fatma is for females, in all geographical regions and Turkey’s three biggest metropolises, Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir.

While millions of Turks carry the same names, a handful of citizens have the privilege of being the only Turkish citizen registered under the name.

The country’s population registry has only one citizen named Feratun, Dilbere, Farim, Ülçü, Selmanni, Eliyde, Mürinşah, Hörem, İsal and Femedi.