Turkish Names

As anyone who has studied another language will tell you, the most amusing part of learning another language is the ridiculous translations you often produce, as an equivalent to your mother tongue. While in Turkey, I have noted, and giggled to myself many a time, in the silly little translations that are used in everyday Turkish. In English, they just don't work.

For a good chuckle to the English translations, see below: 

[Some are first names for people, others are city names]

The funniest include:

Yunus Emre: Happy Dolphin (First name, Surname)

Baris Can Cicek: Peace life flower 

Beyköy: Man Village 

Some of my students, fellow colleagues and I at our holiday party

Bolu: city (city= the actual name of a city) 

Balikesir: fish prisoner/captive (city) 

Büyükyoncalı: large shamrock (city) 

Duygu: feeling 

Ipek: silk 

Guneş: sun (surname)

Garip: strange, bizarre, weird

Batman (yes, it is the name of a city) 

The most beautiful include:

Nurcan: light-soul

Damla: water-drop

Cansu: the life-water

Tatlisu: sweet-water (city) 

Konca: bud 

Names in Turkey are a different phenomenon then they are elsewhere. In fact, surnames weren't common in Turkey until 1934 when Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic passed a law that mandated the creation of surnames. Thus, when people created names, they had leeway to choose the names they wanted. It makes a person wonder how much impact a name can have on a life. If you went through life with the name Honey Bee, would it influence your disposition, or others perception of you? If I had a friend called Honey Bee, I think I would subconsciously think of her as sweeter, than say, a person named "bizarre/strange." Though, in the end, I think Turkish culture has concocted some intensely adorable names. My very favorite is Damla, a water drop, which is a girls name.