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Where Istanbul's Neighbourhood Names Come From

Reading the sign on an Istanbul ferry pier means speaking several languages without noticing it.

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Where Istanbul's Neighbourhood Names Come From

Reading the sign on an Istanbul ferry pier means speaking several languages without noticing it. Hidden in the name Üsküdar are the shield-bearing guards of the Roman era; in Tarabya, a cove whose air was thought to heal the sick; in Unkapanı, the great weighing scales of the Ottoman market; in Kuzguncuk, a dervish whose name has never been forgotten. Buildings burn and fall, but names usually stay put, which is why neighbourhood names are among the longest-lived documents a city keeps.

This article looks at the origins of Istanbul's familiar neighbourhood names, grouped shore by shore. We follow one rule along the way: what a source states as fact we report as fact, and what it says "is told" or "is said" we report as tradition. Almost every Istanbul neighbourhood has a charming explanation passed from mouth to mouth. Some are backed by documents; others were simply invented to fit the sound of the name. Knowing which is which changes the way you look around when you walk those streets.

The Layers of a Name

Istanbul's neighbourhood names fall roughly into five groups. The first are ancient or Byzantine names that gradually adapted to Turkish sounds: Üsküdar from Skutarion, Tarabya from Therapia and Samatya from Psamathion were born this way. The second group are the names of people who settled somewhere in the Ottoman period, built something there or held the land: Kasımpaşa, Emirgan, Baltalimanı, Vaniköy and Paşabahçe belong here.

The third group describes a trade. Tophane is where cannon were cast, Unkapanı is the market where flour was weighed and distributed, and Çengelköy is the village where ships' anchors were made. The fourth group points to a structure or an object; Kuruçeşme, Kabataş and Rumelihisarı are named after a fountain, a stone and a fortress. The fifth group preserves migrations. Aksaray, Arnavutköy and Kefeliköy carry the memory of people who came from somewhere else.

To these five groups we must add the changes of the early Republic. Bakırköy was called Makriköy until it received its present name in 1925, and Yeşilköy was known as Ayastefanos until the mid-1920s. So a neighbourhood's current name is not always its oldest one. Sometimes it is a new name deliberately put in place of a centuries-old one.

Two Ancient Towns on the Asian Shore

Where Kadıköy stands today there was, in antiquity, the city of Chalcedon, written Halkedon in local sources. Kadıköy Municipality's history explains Halkedon as the "Land of Copper", and the compilation on Wikipedia likewise links the name to a Greek root meaning copper. The city also had a famous nickname. Herodotus reports that the Persian commander Megabazus said the people who settled here, ignoring the beautiful site on the opposite shore, must have been blind. Over time the remark turned into a popular tale and Chalcedon became the "Land of the Blind". Kadıköy Municipality's history tells the same story from the mouth of the founder of Byzantium, who settled at Sarayburnu.

The present name comes from the Ottoman period. According to Kadıköy Municipality, after the conquest Mehmed II gave Halkedon to Hızır Bey, the first kadı (judge) of Istanbul, and the settlement is said to have become Kadıköy, the judge's village, as a result. The words "is said" matter here. The explanation is widely accepted, but the sources present it as a story rather than a documented fact.

Üsküdar's story has more layers. Its ancient name was Chrysopolis, Greek for "city of gold". The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam lists several views on the origin of the modern name. One derives it from Skutarion, the place where the imperial guards called scutarii, who carried leather shields, were stationed in Roman times. Another links it to the Persian word esküdar, meaning a post station, a courier or a courier's horse. The Wikipedia compilation adds that Villehardouin, chronicler of the Fourth Crusade, wrote the name as Escutaire, and that Skutarion gradually became Üsküdar. As for the popular explanation "eski dar", meaning "old house", the encyclopedia plainly calls it meaningless.

Byzantine Names on the Historic Peninsula

The name of Balat on the Golden Horn derives from the Latin or Greek word palatium. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam notes that the word also passed into Arabic with the sense of "a level, stone-paved ground or pavement". Wikipedia links the name to the Greek palation, "palace", and explains it by the neighbourhood's closeness to the Blachernae Palace inside the walls. Both explanations meet in the same root; the difference lies in which meaning of the word is emphasised.

Fener takes its name from a real lighthouse. In the Byzantine period this quarter was called Phanarion and was entered through a gate in the Golden Horn walls. In the Ottoman period the gate was known as Fener Kapısı, and the fact that some sixteenth-century maps label it Porta del Faro points to an important lighthouse on this stretch of the Golden Horn. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam also notes that the historian Celal Esad Arseven placed the Golden Horn lighthouse on the promontory where Fener Kapısı stood.

Samatya, on the Marmara shore of the peninsula, is named after sand. According to Wikipedia, the name is thought to come from the Greek Psamathion, "sandy", referring to the sandy soil once plentiful here. Today Samatya is a neighbourhood in the Fatih district, covering part of Kocamustafapaşa, with Yedikule to its west.

Ottoman Traces on the Peninsula

The name Aksaray came to Istanbul from Central Anatolia. The Anatolian city of Aksaray took its name from the palace built there by the Seljuk Sultan Kılıç Arslan II. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, after ending the Karamanid principality in 1468, Mehmed II settled a large part of the city's inhabitants in Istanbul and gave the name to a neighbourhood here. So the name of Aksaray, known today for its busy junctions and transfer points, is really the memory of a migration.

The name Unkapanı preserves an Ottoman institution. Kapan was the name of a great weighing scale in Arab and Turkish-Islamic states. Among the Ottomans the word came to be combined with the goods sold, as in the flour kapan, the oil kapan or the honey kapan, and it became the name of places much like today's wholesale markets. Goods brought here were weighed under the supervision of the kadı's deputy, taxed and priced, and then passed to the public through the guild tradesmen.

The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam notes that the flour kapan built in the reign of Mehmed II still survives as a neighbourhood name. According to the encyclopedia, the merchants' agents bought grain in the producing regions and brought it by ship to the flour kapan in the city. Picture the grain ships tying up along the Golden Horn and it becomes obvious why the name stayed on this shore.

Shipyard and Cannon Across the Golden Horn

Galata has one of the most debated names in Istanbul. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam gives two views. One derives the name from the Greek galaktos, "milk", because there were stables nearby; the other from the Italian calata, "a stepped way". The encyclopedia's own verdict is clear: the origin of the word has not been fully explained. In the Byzantine period this shore was called Pera, meaning "the other side". That name still lives on in institutions such as the Pera Museum.

Kasımpaşa is named after Güzelce Kasım Paşa, one of the viziers of Süleyman the Magnificent. According to Wikipedia, the sultan assigned him to live here, and Kasım Paşa developed the area with the mosque, madrasa and other works he commissioned. The pier history published by Şehir Hatları, the city ferry company, also links Kasımpaşa to Vizier Kasım Paşa's building works, mosques and fountains in Süleyman's reign, and recalls that the neighbourhood was long home to sailors and shipyard workers.

Tophane's name is purely functional. Formed from the Turkish top, "cannon", and the Persian hane, "house", a tophane is a place where cannon are cast and weapons stored. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, this shore was open countryside and gardens outside the Genoese walls before the conquest; right after it, a cannon foundry and barracks for gunners and bombardiers were built here. Süleyman later had them demolished and replaced with larger buildings. The Tophane-i Amire building is used today as a culture and arts centre, and the large Tophane Fountain nearby was built in 1732 on the orders of Mahmud I.

For Fındıklı, a little further along, the encyclopedia gives two possibilities: either the many hazelnut (fındık) orchards, or a merchants' lodging here known as a fondaco. We do not know which is right; the two explanations stand side by side.

From Kabataş to Ortaköy

Kabataş really is named after a stone. According to the Bosphorus entry of the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, Köse Kethüda Mustafa Necib Çelebi found a large stone while having his waterside mansion repaired, had it trimmed and turned it into a landing stage. The encyclopedia adds that the stone was probably a relic of antiquity. The area was once part of Fındıklı, a green place of vineyard houses.

Next door, Dolmabahçe explains itself: it is a "filled garden", land reclaimed from the sea. The filling began at the suggestion of Grand Admiral Halil Paşa on the orders of Ahmed I, continued under Osman II, and the area was added to the imperial gardens. Today's Dolmabahçe Palace rose on this reclaimed ground in the reign of Abdülmecid.

Beşiktaş is one of the neighbourhoods with the most varied origin stories. For this shore, known in antiquity and Byzantine times by names such as Iasonion, Sergion, Daphne and Diplokion, the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam reports two traditions. One says that Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa had five stone posts (beş taş) set up here for mooring ships. The other derives the name from a stone shaped like a cradle (beşik), hollowed into a human form, or from ancient columns placed at Barbaros's tomb. Both are traditions, and no firm document shows which is right.

Ortaköy's name describes its position. Founded in a stream valley in the middle (orta) between Beşiktaş and Kuruçeşme, the village grew quickly from the reign of Süleyman onwards and, according to the encyclopedia, took its name at that time.

Village by Village on the European Shore

Kuruçeşme is named after a dry fountain. The fountain beside the mosque built by Tezkireci Osman Efendi had no water, and the village became known by this "dry fountain". The curious part is that the name did not change even after the sister of Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Paşa had the fountain rebuilt and brought water to it in 1682. Once a place name settles in, it can outlive the very situation that created it.

Arnavutköy, the "Albanian village", is named after its first inhabitants. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam describes it stretching from Kuruçeşme to beyond Akıntıburnu. In Bebek, the name belongs to a person. In Byzantine times the place was called Helai or Echele because of steps that made it easier to climb from the shore to the hills. The present name comes from a company commander nicknamed "Bebek" ("baby"), whom Mehmed II appointed here.

Rumelihisarı takes its name from the fortress Mehmed II built in 1452. Before that the place was called Hermaion, or Pyrrhias Kyon, "red dog", because the noise of its waves resembled barking. A little further on, Baltalimanı carries the name of Baltaoğlu Süleyman Bey, the grand admiral who had ships built here that were later brought into the Golden Horn during the conquest of Istanbul.

Emirgan's name leads back to a commander from Iran. In the sixteenth century the place was called Feridun Bey's Garden. The present name comes from Emirgune, commander of the Yerevan fortress, who took refuge with the Ottomans in the reign of Murad IV. After he built a Persian-style pavilion on the land he was given, his name, written Mirgun in older sources, spread to the whole neighbourhood.

Tarabya, Büyükdere and Sarıyer in the Northern Bosphorus

Yeniköy's name, "new village", says that it was founded relatively late. Known in Byzantine times as Komarodes for its strawberries and as Eudios Kalos for its calm water, the village grew and flourished under Süleyman and received the name Yeniköy.

Tarabya's ancient name was Pharmacias. It later came to be called Therapia, "healing", because of its fine air, and the present name Tarabya comes from that. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam relates that Selim II held banquets here and ordered a small town to be founded at a spot that then consisted only of fishermen's huts. Selim III later gave a confiscated waterside mansion to the French embassy as a summer residence, and the summer residences of other countries' embassies followed.

Kefeliköy is thought to be named after immigrants brought from the city of Kefe in Crimea; the encyclopedia records this only as "probable". Büyükdere takes its name from the "big stream" that flows into the deep bay here. Because of an ancient votive site, this shore was once known as the Bay of Saron.

For Sarıyer there are two explanations, and one is stronger than the other. Popular tradition says the name comes from Sarı Baba, a holy man buried here. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam finds more convincing the idea that the soil looked yellow (sarı) because of nearby copper deposits. The fact that older works always write the name as "Sarıyar" and that an abandoned copper mine exists here supports this view. The pier history of Şehir Hatları shares the same explanation.

Bosphorus Villages on the Asian Shore

Heading north from Üsküdar, the first stop is Kuzguncuk, named after a holy man called Kuzgun Baba who settled here in the time of Mehmed II. Right after it comes Beylerbeyi, known in Ottoman sources as the İstavroz Garden. The present name comes from the waterside palace built on the site of the palace of Mehmed Paşa, a beylerbeyi (provincial governor) in the reign of Murad III; the name Beylerbeyi, given to the palace, gradually spread to the whole neighbourhood. The Beylerbeyi Palace you can visit today is the building Sultan Abdülaziz had rebuilt in white marble in 1865.

Çengelköy is named after ships' anchors; it is said that the anchors called çengel çapa were made here. The village was reorganised in the reign of Murad IV and, according to the encyclopedia, became famous for its cucumbers. Vaniköy began to be known by the name of Vani Mehmed Efendi, tutor of Mehmed IV, after the land was granted to him.

There are two traditions for Kandilli. One says it takes its name from an oil lamp (kandil) lit here for sultans returning from Göksu. The other says that after Murad IV returned from the Yerevan campaign, the birth of Prince Mehmed was celebrated with seven nights of lamp illuminations at the pavilion he had built here. The encyclopedia also notes that there was a "lamp garden" here in the mid-sixteenth century and a lighthouse on the hill from early times, concluding that the place had long been known by this name. In other words, the name may be older than both traditions.

Kanlıca's name can sound alarming at first, since kan means blood in Turkish, but it has nothing to do with blood. Written Kanlıcak in older texts, the name, according to the encyclopedia, probably comes from the ox carts (kağnı) used here. For centuries Kanlıca has also been known for its milk and especially its yoghurt. Çubuklu owes its fame to the pipe bowls (çubuk lülesi) made here, while Paşabahçe is named after the pavilion and garden of Hezarpare Ahmed Paşa; one of its old names was Stiridia, after its plentiful oysters.

Beykoz's ancient name goes back to Amykos, a king of Bithynia. For the present name the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam gives two traditions: a combination of bey ("lord") with koz ("walnut"), or with kos ("village"). The pier history of Şehir Hatları also notes that the place appears as Beyköy in some sources and Beycevizi in others.

Changing Names on the Marmara Shore

Bakırköy's name rests not on a copper (bakır) mine but on the place-name reform of the Republic. In Byzantine times this was Hebdomon, a military and political centre. The name means "the seventh" in Greek and comes from the settlement's position seven Roman miles from the Milion, the mile-marker of Constantinople. According to Bakırköy Municipality, the place was later called Jeptimun, Makrohori and Makriköy; Makrohori means "long village" in Greek. In 1925, under the regulation that replaced non-Turkish place names, Makriköy was renamed Bakırköy.

Just to the west, Yeşilköy was known as Ayastefanos until the mid-1920s. The name comes from the Greek form of Saint Stephen, and according to Wikipedia it first appears in the eleventh century in the work of the Byzantine historian Michael Psellos. When place names were changed in the early Republic, the area was named Yeşilköy, "green village". It is said that the novelist Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil, who lived here at the time, suggested the name because he admired the area's greenery. A lovely story, but keep it in mind as a tale rather than a firm fact.

A Day Following the Names

The easiest way to read neighbourhood names is from the deck of a Bosphorus ferry. According to Şehir Hatları, from 1851 the Şirket-i Hayriye began building piers on the European shore at Beşiktaş, Ortaköy, Kuruçeşme, Arnavutköy, Bebek, Rumelihisarı, Baltalimanı, Emirgan, İstinye, Yeniköy, Tarabya, Büyükdere and Sarıyer, and on the Asian shore at Hisar, Kanlıca and Beykoz. Some of these piers have closed and some still take passengers today. Which piers a ferry calls at depends on the line and the season, so check current services on the Şehir Hatları website and read the pier signs alongside the stories in this article.

If you have a whole day, combine the ferry with a walk. Walk along the shore in the morning from Kuruçeşme to Arnavutköy and on to Bebek, and you pass three names in a row born of a dry fountain, a village's first settlers and a company commander's nickname. In the afternoon, cross to the Asian side to taste Kanlıca's yoghurt, take a short walk in Çengelköy and Kuzguncuk, and visit Beylerbeyi Palace. Check the palace's opening days and hours on its official website before you go.

On the historic peninsula and around Galata, names are best understood on foot. Stand in front of the Tophane Fountain and look at the old cannon foundry building behind it, and you see side by side the two structures that explain the neighbourhood's name. If you visit the neighbouring Kılıç Ali Paşa Mosque, designed by Mimar Sinan, go outside prayer times, wear clothes that cover shoulders and knees, take off your shoes at the entrance and keep quiet inside; women visitors are expected to cover their hair. The route from Unkapanı along the Golden Horn to Fener and Balat also brings the Byzantine and Ottoman names of this article together in a single walk.

Beware of Folk Etymology

The most common mistake with neighbourhood names is to take the pleasant-sounding explanation for the truth. "Old house" for Üsküdar, Barbaros's five stones for Beşiktaş, lamps for Kandilli, a novelist's suggestion for Yeşilköy: some of these may be right, while others may have been derived later from the sound of the name. That is why sources such as the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam so often use phrases like "it is related", "it is probable" or "it has not been fully explained".

To judge how reliable an explanation is, look at these three things.

  • The old spelling. The fact that Sarıyer appears as "Sarıyar" in older works strengthens the yellow-soil explanation.
  • The basis of the explanation. A decree, an endowment record or a contemporary witness is firmer than a story told later.
  • Traces in other languages. Villehardouin's spelling Escutaire supports the view that Üsküdar comes from Skutarion.

With these small clues, the next time you look at a pier sign you will start reading the centuries behind the name yourself. It may be the cheapest and most lasting way to explore Istanbul: reading each neighbourhood's name as a short note left by the people who lived there.

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