Kemal

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Кемал in RU Russia, UA Ukraine, MK North Macedonia, Kamal in IN India, ES Spain, Кемаль in KZ Kazakhstan, KG Kyrgyzstan and כמאל in IL Israel.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 6 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Kemal is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• German given name55K records spelled Kemal21 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Germany, Türkiye, United States, Austria

  Languages: German, English, Danish

  Also written Kemâl, K'Emal, Kèmàl, Kemál, Kèmal

• French given name18K records spelled Kemal17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Türkiye, United States, Belgium

  Languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Kémal, K'Emal, Kèmal, Ķemal, Kemâl

• Indonesian given name7.6K records spelled Kemal4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Türkiye, India, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Kemal, Kémal

• Amharic given name6.1K records spelled Kemal4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ethiopia, Türkiye, United States, India

  Also written ከማል

• a separate given name5.1K records spelled Kemal5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Ethiopia, Türkiye, United States

  Also written Kémal, Kemàl, Kemāl, Kemâl

• Hindi given name4.4K records spelled Kemal7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Türkiye, United States, Syria

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu, Bangla

  Also written Ķèmàĺ, Kemâl

• Slovak given name1.1K records spelled Kemal3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye, Czechia, Slovakia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Slovak, Czech

  Also written Kěmál

41 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Kemal is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Swedish, Kemal är den turkiska varianten av arabiskans → Kamal ’fullkomlighet ’. En känd namnbärare är Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), grundare av det moderna Turkiet.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In German, männl. Vom. türkischer Herkunft (türk, kemal »Vollkommenheit« aus gleich­ bedeutend arab. kamäl).

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• El más alto honor

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

• In woe, miracle, power; be powerful (as a ghost)

  as a word·Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (ACD), CLDF v2.0

• In Turkmen, Kämil ýetişen, bişisen .

  as a word·turkmenkultur.com — Türkmen Adam Atlary (Turkmen personal names, Kylyç 1998)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 45 years between 1965–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Kemal Reisb. 1451TRTurkish privateer and admiral of the Ottoman Empire
• Kemalpaşazadeb. 1469TRnot in their usual nameOttoman historian, jurist and poet (1469–1534)
• Yusuf Kemal Tengirşenkb. 1878TRTurkish diplomat and statesperson (1878–1969)
• Mustafa Kemal Atatürkb. 1881TRfounding father of the Republic of Turkey (c. 1881–1938)
• Kemal Tahirb. 1910TRTurkish novelist (1910–1973)
• Kemal Kılıçdaroğlub. 1948TRTurkish politician (born 1948)
• Kemal Montenob. 1948BABosnian singer-songwriter
• Kemal Başarb. 1963TRTurkish theatrical director (born 1963)
• Kemal Özdeşb. 1970TRTurkish association football manager (born 1970)
• Muzzy Izzetb. 1974GBnot in their usual nameTurkish association football player (born 1974)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 346 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Kemal?

We estimate roughly 18 thousand people bear Kemal (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Kemal have the most bearers?

Kemal is most frequently recorded in Türkiye, where it is most often spelled kemal.

How common is Kemal compared with other names?

In Türkiye, Kemal is the 30th most common given name of 294,597 given names recorded there.

Is Kemal a male or female name?

Kemal is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Kemal mean?

Recorded meaning: 1. Bilgi ve erdem bakımından olgunluk, yetkinlik, erginlik, eksiksizlik.2.