Date
Meaning & History
Means son of a bey. “Bey” (Ottoman Turkish: بك “Beik”, Albanian: bej, Bosnian: beg, Arabic: بيه “Beyeh”, Persian: بیگ “Beyg” or بگ “Beg”) is a Turkish title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders or rulers of various sized areas in the Ottoman Empire. The feminine equivalent title was Begum. The regions or provinces where "beys" ruled or which they administered were called beylik, roughly meaning "khanate", "emirate" or "principality" in the first case and "province" or "governorate" in the second (the equivalent of duchy in other parts of Europe). Today, the word is still used formally as a social title for men. It follows the name and is used generally with first names and not with last names.There is also a district in Istanbul called Beyoğlu, which includes the neighbourhood called with the same name, Beyoğlu.See BEGOVIĆ for the Slavic form of the surname.