Turkish2 syllablesTurkey's standard name
Meaning: praised, praiseworthy.
Mehmet
| Origin | Turkish — the Turkish development of Arabic Muhammad, by way of Ottoman pronunciation |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Praised, praiseworthy, from the root ḥ-m-d (to praise) — the same root behind Ahmet and Mahmut |
| Pronunciation | meh-MET, stress on the second syllable; both vowels are short and flat |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100 and uncommon there; for most of the twentieth century the commonest male name in Turkey |
| Variants | Mehmed (Ottoman and Bosnian), Muhammed and Muhammet (used deliberately, see below), Memet and Memed in dialect |
| Nicknames | Memo and Memiş, both warm and informal; Memoş among friends |
| Mehmetçik | "Little Mehmet" — the affectionate collective name for the Turkish soldier, filling the slot English gives to Tommy |
History & meaning
Turkish solved a problem most Muslim languages left alone. Muhammad is the Prophet's name, and using it for an ordinary child raises the question of what happens when that child is scolded, or sworn at, or written up in a police report. Anatolian Turkish answered by letting pronunciation do the work: Arabic Muḥammad, read through Turkish vowels, became Mehemmed, then Mehmed, then Mehmet, and the older Arabic form was set aside for the Prophet alone. The convention hardened into a rule of usage — Muhammed in a sermon or a printed prayer, Mehmet on a birth certificate. It has loosened over the past few decades, and Muhammet and Muhammed are registered as given names in Turkey today, but the split is why the country has generations of Mehmets and almost no Muhammeds among their grandfathers.
The name belongs to the most consequential Ottoman of them all. Mehmed II took Constantinople in 1453 at twenty-one and is known in Turkish simply as Fatih, the Conqueror. Mehmet Akif Ersoy wrote the words of the İstiklal Marşı, adopted as the national anthem in 1921, and refused payment for them. And the diminutive suffix ‑çik turned the name into a word: Mehmetçik, "little Mehmet", the affectionate term for the ordinary Turkish soldier, fixed in the language by Gallipoli and used ever since. Very few given names anywhere have generated a common noun for an entire army.
Why parents choose it
In Turkey, Mehmet is the John of the register — the name you can give a boy without explaining anything to anyone. It honours the Prophet at a respectful remove, it fits the widespread habit of naming a first son after his paternal grandfather, and it survives every stage of a life without ever sounding too young or too old. Abroad, it reads as plainly Turkish, and Memo gives the family a soft short form that most languages can handle.
Middle names for Mehmet
Mehmet Ali is so common in Turkey that it functions as a single name, said in one breath. Mehmet Kaan adds a Turkic imperial title, Mehmet Eren keeps everything short and modern, and Mehmet Alexander works for a family that wants one name from each side. See the middle names guide for the sound rules underneath.
Famous Mehmets
Mehmed the Conqueror ended the Byzantine Empire and rebuilt Istanbul as an imperial capital. Mehmet Akif Ersoy, poet of the national anthem, is one of the few writers whose lines every Turkish schoolchild can recite. Mehmet Scholl spent his whole club career at Bayern Munich and won eight Bundesliga titles.
Consider instead
Ahmet draws on the same Arabic root and carries a similar respect with slightly less freight. Murat has the Ottoman history without the religious obligation — it simply means "wish". Mustafa, "the chosen one", is another epithet of the Prophet used freely as an everyday name, and it is Atatürk's own first name.