Given name & surname
Zeki
“having great intelligence”
Zeki is used as a given name and a surname. One Turkish interpretation is “having great intelligence.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Turkish interpretation is “having great intelligence.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Turkish.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 2003. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Zeki through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 117
- 117 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2020
- 11 babies
- 2025
- 5
- #13,904 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −35%
- Cooling
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 13,904 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 304 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Zeki’s family of names
Zeki has a related form in Zekee. Zeki has a related form in Zekey. Zeki has a related form in Zekie.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Zeki has relatives in 3 languages. Lines run from its Turkish roots to each of them.
3 related names in 3 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Zeki
- Zeki Velidi ToganTurkish historian and Turkologist (1890–1970)
- Zeki MürenTurkish musician (1931–1996)
- Zeki Rıza SporelTurkish association football player (1898–1969)
- Zeki DemirkubuzTurkish film director and producer (born 1964)
- Zeki AlasyaTurkish actor and director (1943–2015)
- Zeki YavruTurkish association football player (born 1991)
- Zeki SezerTurkish statesperson (born 1957)
- Zeki ÖktenTurkish film director (1941–2009)
- Zeki YıldırımTurkish association football player (born 1991)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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