How Mustafa Kemal Became Atatürk: Turkey’s Surname Law
Where “Kemal” came from, why every citizen needed a surname, and how Turkey’s parliament gave Mustafa Kemal the surname Atatürk in one sitting.
Table of Contents
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born Mustafa. The Ministry of National Education says his maths teacher added “Kemal” at school, and Türkiye’s parliament, the Grand National Assembly, gave him the surname Atatürk on 24.11.1934.
At a glance · checked 22.10.2026
His parents named him Mustafa; the Assembly gave him the surname Atatürk in one sitting on 24.11.1934.
- Mustafa: His parents, Ali Rıza Efendi and Zübeyde Hanım, named him Mustafa. He was born on 19.05.1881 in Selanik (today Thessaloniki, Greece), says the ministry’s chronology of his life.
- Kemal: The ministry’s page on his school years says his maths teacher added “Kemal” to his name at the military junior secondary school, which he entered in 1893.
- Atatürk: The Surname Law of 21.06.1934 made every citizen take a surname. The Assembly gave him “Atatürk” on 24.11.1934, and a second law keeps the name for him alone.
The sitting · 24.11.1934
Follow the bill through the hall
Tap the plan, or a number, to move the bill to its next stop. Each stop shows the Assembly’s own words from the record of the sitting.
- 1
A bill is read and sent to a committee
Teklif
The request came from İsmet Paşa, the Prime Minister and deputy for Malatya. It carries 23 signatures, his first. The president of the sitting sent it to the Assembly’s Interior Committee.
Efendim, Cumhur Reisimizin soy adı hakkında bir kanun teklifi var, bunu Dahiliye encümenine havale ediyoruz. Encümen mazbatasını yapsın.
In plain words: Members, there is a bill about our President’s surname. We send it to the Interior Committee. Let the committee write its report.
- 2
The committee reports back the same day
Encümen
The committee says it read and discussed the bill at its meeting of 24.11.1934. It gives its reason and recommends the bill to the Assembly.
Türk ulusuna tam istiklâlini kazandıran ve ulusa gerçek tarihinin ve öz dilinin yolunu gösteren Ulu Cumhur Reisimize (Atatürk) soy adının verilmesi çok yerinde görülmüş ve teklif cümlece kabul olunmuş …
In plain words: Giving the surname (Atatürk) to our Great President, who won the Turkish nation its full independence and showed it the way to its true history and its own language, was found very fitting, and the proposal was accepted by all …
- 3
The government asks to discuss it at once
Müstaceliyet
The government asked for the bill to go on the agenda and be discussed with urgency. The Assembly agreed.
Kanun teklifinin ruznameye alınarak müstaceliyetle müzakeresini Hükümet teklif ediyor. Müstaceliyetle müzakeresini kabul edenler … Etmeyenler … Kabul edilmiştir.
In plain words: The government proposes that the bill be put on the agenda and discussed with urgency. Those who accept discussing it with urgency … those who do not … It is accepted.
- 4
The Prime Minister speaks
Söz
İsmet Paşa told the Assembly why it was acting. The record marks applause twice in his statement.
Büyük Önderimiz Cumhur Reisimizin soy adı için bir kanun teklif ediyoruz. Düşündük ki; soy adı kanunu tatbik olunurken Büyük Önderin taşıyacağı adı tayin etmek Büyük Meclisin borcu ve hakkıdır. Kanunda biz (Atatürk) adını teklif ediyoruz.
In plain words: We are proposing a law for the surname of our Great Leader, the President. We thought: while the surname law is being applied, fixing the name the Great Leader will carry is the Great Assembly’s duty and right. In the law we propose the name (Atatürk).
İnanıyoruz ki (Atatürk) adı ile Büyük Türk ulusu en büyük oğluna en büyük, en saygılı hitabını yapmış olacaktır.
In plain words: We believe that with the name (Atatürk) the great Turkish nation will have made its greatest, most respectful address to its greatest son.
- 5
Three articles, then the whole bill
Oylama
Nobody asked to speak on the whole bill, and the Assembly moved on to the articles. It accepted the three articles one by one, then the whole bill unanimously. The sitting closed at 15:18.
Kemal Öz adlı Cumhur Reisimize Atatürk soy adı verilmiştir.
In plain words: The surname Atatürk has been given to our President, whose given name is Kemal.
Heyeti umumiyesini reyinize arzediyorum. Kabul edenler… Etmeyenler… İttifakla kabul edilmiştir.
In plain words: I put the whole bill to your vote. Those in favour … those against … It is accepted unanimously.
Take it with you
Lines from the record, ready to copy
Tick the lines you want. The copy holds the Turkish, what it means and where it comes from.
What the bill says
Kemal Öz adlı Cumhur Reisimize Atatürk soy adı verilmiştir.
The surname Atatürk has been given to our President, whose given name is Kemal.
İsmet Paşa’s closing words
İnanıyoruz ki (Atatürk) adı ile Büyük Türk ulusu en büyük oğluna en büyük, en saygılı hitabını yapmış olacaktır.
We believe that with the name (Atatürk) the great Turkish nation will have made its greatest, most respectful address to its greatest son.
The committee’s reason
Türk ulusuna tam istiklâlini kazandıran ve ulusa gerçek tarihinin ve öz dilinin yolunu gösteren Ulu Cumhur Reisimize (Atatürk) soy adının verilmesi çok yerinde görülmüş ve teklif cümlece kabul olunmuş …
Giving the surname (Atatürk) to our Great President, who won the Turkish nation its full independence and showed it the way to its true history and its own language, was found very fitting, and the proposal was accepted by all …
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Where “Kemal” came from
His parents named him Mustafa. The Ministry of National Education’s chronology of his life says he was born on 19.05.1881 in Selanik, in a two-storey pink house that is a museum today. Selanik is today’s Thessaloniki, in Greece.
The ministry’s page on his school years tells how “Kemal” came to be added. In 1893 he was admitted to the military junior secondary school in Selanik (askerî rüştiye). The page says that its maths teacher, Captain Mustafa Efendi, added “Kemal” to the end of his pupil’s name, to mark the difference from the other Mustafas in the class, in view of the pupil’s ability and intelligence. From then on, the page says, the young pupil was Mustafa Kemal.
…sınıftaki diğer Mustafa’larla aralarındaki farkı belirtmek üzere öğrencisinin adının sonuna “Kemal” ismini ilâve etti.
Ministry of National Education, the page on his school years, checked 22.10.2026
Why every citizen needed a surname
The Surname Law was passed on 21.06.1934. The Ministry of National Education’s chronology says it made it compulsory for every Turkish citizen to carry a surname besides a given name.
The Atatürk Research Centre, a Turkish state research body, describes the law like this: each head of a family carried one shared surname, and the surname came after the given name. The law ended the confusion over names, the centre says, and did away with the many unfitting epithets people had put in front of their names. After the law, the centre adds, Mustafa Kemal was given the surname Atatürk by a law of its own.
The sitting of 24.11.1934
The surname came from a request signed by İsmet Paşa, the Prime Minister and deputy for Malatya, and 22 other deputies. The Assembly’s own record of its sitting of Saturday 24.11.1934 shows the steps in order, and the plan above follows it. The sitting opened at 15:00 and closed at 15:18.
İsmet Paşa told the Assembly why it was acting. The record has his closing words:
İnanıyoruz ki (Atatürk) adı ile Büyük Türk ulusu en büyük oğluna en büyük, en saygılı hitabını yapmış olacaktır.
In plain words: “We believe that with the name (Atatürk) the great Turkish nation will have made its greatest, most respectful address to its greatest son.” The record marks applause right after these words.
The committee’s report gives a reason of its own. It found the surname fitting for the President who, in the committee’s words, won the Turkish nation its full independence and showed it the way to its true history and its own language.
The law’s main sentence says that the surname Atatürk has been given to the President whose own name is Kemal (Kemal öz adlı Cumhur Reisimiz). The Assembly accepted it unanimously (ittifakla), the record says, and the law was published on 27.11.1934.
One name, one person
A second law, passed on 17.12.1934, is about the name itself. It says the surname Atatürk belongs to him alone. Nobody may take it as a given name or a surname, use it that way, or give it to anyone else.
It also says nobody may make a given name or a surname by putting other words before or after “Atatürk”. The law applies from 24.11.1934, the day the surname was given, and was published on 24.12.1934.
Two quick answers
Is Turkey named after Atatürk?
The dates answer it. The Republic was declared on 29.10.1923, says the Ministry of National Education’s chronology. The surname Atatürk was given to him on 24.11.1934, eleven years later.
Where was he born?
In Selanik (today Thessaloniki, Greece), on 19.05.1881, in a two-storey pink house that is a museum today, says the Ministry of National Education’s chronology.
Sources
- Atatürk: Öğrenim Yılları, Ünvan-Madalya, Kronoloji (school years, titles and honours, chronology; three pages on his life) – Ministry of National Education, checked 22.10.2026
- T. B. M. M. Zabıt Ceridesi, Devre IV, Cilt 25, Yedinci inikat, 24-XI-1934 (PDF; the Assembly’s record of the sitting, volume 25, pages 32 to 35) – Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (TBMM), checked 22.10.2026
- Kemal öz adlı Cumhur Reisimize verilen soyadı hakkında kanun (PDF; law no. 2587, accepted 24.11.1934, published in the Resmî Gazete on 27.11.1934, issue 2865) – Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (TBMM), checked 22.10.2026
- 24-XI-1934 tarih ve 2587 sayılı kanunla Kemal öz adlı Türkiye Cumhur Reisine verilen « ATATÜRK » adının veya bunun başına ve sonuna söz konarak yapılan adların hiç bir kimse tarafından alınamayacağını buyuran kanun (PDF; law no. 2622, accepted 17.12.1934, published in the Resmî Gazete on 24.12.1934, issue 2888) – Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (TBMM), checked 22.10.2026
- Soyadı Yasası (page; what the 1934 Surname Law did) – Atatürk Research Centre (ATAM), checked 22.10.2026
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