The Yılmaz surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 1,427 people carried this name — #19,075 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 208,300 people counted. That is up 101% from 710 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Yılmaz surname
From Turkish Yılmaz, which is from yılmaz, meaning ("fearless, intrepid").
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Yilmaz» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Belgium’s population register
At least 4,678 people named Yılmaz live in Belgium.
Statbel only publishes a name in a municipality when five or more people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Limburg.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they live today
Statbel (Statistics Belgium), family names of the population by municipality, 1 January 2026 — CC BY 4.0.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
2,410 people named Yılmaz live in Switzerland.
They live in 25 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Zurich.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 469 people named Yılmaz.
Most of them — 382 — were born outside France. Those born in France came from 37 départements, most often Bas-Rhin.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Poland’s population register
101 people named Yılmaz have a registered home in Poland.
Of the 964 in Poland’s national register, these are the ones with a permanent address on file. They live in 13 of Poland’s 16 voivodeships, most of all in Masovian.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
PESEL register, Ministry of Digital Affairs of Poland (dane.gov.pl) — CC0 · living people by voivodeship of permanent residence, 20 January 2026.
In the Nordic population registers
1,755 people named Yılmaz are counted in Sweden, Norway and Finland.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published. Norway publishes only surnames with 200 or more bearers. Finland counts its citizens, at home or abroad.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown) · Statistics Norway (SSB, ssb.no), table 12891, 2025 — CC BY 4.0 · Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland, surname statistics, August 2026 — CC BY 4.0.
In print
Yılmaz in American newspapers,
1928–1963.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 30 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Yılmaz,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Hüsnü Yılmaz 1939– · politician -
Yusuf Ziya Yılmaz 1951– · politician -
İsmet Yılmaz 1961– · engineer -
Güngör Yılmaz 1961– · politician -
Necati Yılmaz 1964– · lawyer
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 242 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Yılmaz.
- Yaya 241 · U.S. census
- Ybanez 1,709 · U.S. census
- Yde 227 · U.S. census
- Ye 9,839 · U.S. census
- Yildirim 591 · U.S. census
- Yildiz 678 · U.S. census
- Yon 2,969 · U.S. census
- Yong 3,123 · U.S. census
- You 5,234 · U.S. census
- Younes 1,324 · U.S. census
- Young 484,447 · U.S. census
- Youssef 3,700 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Yılmaz is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.