# Intimacy, familiarity, diminutives in Turkish names



## Encolpius

Hello, I do not speak Turkish, but I am interested in foreign languages, mostly in diminutives. I wonder how common it is Turkish to use diminutives with person's (mostly in children) names in modern Turkish. I am not sure if you know other languages but I personally classify languages where diminutives in that specific case are rare (English, German, French), common (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) or very common (Slavic languages, Hungarian). So my question, is it easy and common to make diminutives from names like: Yusuf, Ömer, Mustafa, Mehmet?
Thanks.


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## muzisyenbozuntusu

I'm not sure that I got the whole point, but I'm going to give a try. Yes, diminutives are common in Turkish too. Referring to the names you have written as an example: Yusuf-çuk, Ömer-cik, Mustafa-cık, Mehmet-çik. For example "kitap" stands for "book" in Turkish. "Kitapçık" means "booklet". As you see, we use "-cik, cık, çik, çık, çuk, cuk" to make the word more intimate or smaller. However, these are not the only ones. We also use "-iş, -oş, -uş" type of affixes. For instance, "Ali" is a name given to boys. It is more natural to say "Aliş" rather than "Alicik". As another example, "Fatma" is a name given to girls. "Fatoş" is again more natural than "Fatmacık". I hope you got the point.


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## LeBro

I think Turkish might fall into the "common" group according to your classification. I am not an expert on Hungarian and Russian (Slavic) but to the best of my knowledge these languages can be justifiably classified as "very common" in terms of using diminutives. So I would place Turkish under the category of "common" in comparison with these languages.

"-cVk", when used with personal names, shows affection, therefore is used mainly with children. But you can use it with the addition of 1st. person possessive ending with for example a friend, as in "Mustafacı(ğı)m..."

Some names have also different, shorter diminutive forms for example;

Mustafa - Musti
Mehmet - Memo


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## Encolpius

LeBro said:


> ...But you can use it with the addition of 1*st. person possessive ending with for example a friend*, as in "Mustafacı(ğı)m..."




Wonderful. Believe my or not I was about to ask you just about that, because it is rather common in Hungarian and I was very curious if it exists in Turkish,too (I'll ask about other languages, too) It does. Excellent.
Would you be so kind to write some similar examples (males, females) with some common names like you wrote Mustafacı(ğı)m. But does it mean, it can be Mustafacım or Mustafacığım?  And which one is more common? Thank so much!


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## LeBro

Encolpius said:


> But does it mean, it can be Mustafacım or Mustafacığım? And which one is more common?



Both are/mean the same. 

Mustafa + -cık + -ım:   "k" turns into "ğ", therefore "Mustafacığım". In speech, "-cığım" just shortens to "-cım".



Encolpius said:


> Would you be so kind to write some similar examples (males, females) with some common names like you wrote Mustafacı(ğı)m.



It can be used with any name, to name a few;

Ahmetciğim, Ayşeciğim, Mehmetciğim, Kadirciğim, Ececiğim, Kaancığım, Oğuzcuğum, etc.

Such forms may also be used mainly among male friends: Ahmetim, Mehmetim, Kadirim, Kaanım, Oğuzum, etc. (my (dear friend) Ahmet...)


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## Rallino

It's Ahmet*ç*iğim and Mehmet*ç*iğim.


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## LeBro

Rallino said:


> It's Ahmet*ç*iğim and Mehmet*ç*iğim.



Yes, thus prescribes the rule! My bad!


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