There’s plenty of data out there if you know what to put into Google… and if you speak Turkish. These are some of the words that unlock Google. ana – mother avrat – woman involved in immoral activities azadli – freed slave bikr-i bâliğa – unmarried woman cariye – female slave…
One of [the beauties] is Cotton ‘Ayni, a jasmine breastHer skin, like cotton, is delicate and moistHer body is a fresh sapling in the soul’s gardenHer mouth, of purest water, is a fountainI said, “Come to my breast,” said the heartbreaker,“What have fire and cotton to do together?” . —…
Freeborn Women’s Names Asiye Hâtun bt. Ali Asiye bt. Üveys Aynî bt. Ali Aynî bt. Mehmed Aynî Aynî bt. Nasuh Ayşe Hâtun bt. Pir Ahmed Ayşe Hâtun bt. Cafer Ayşe Hâtun bt. Ferhad Ağa Ayşe bt. Mahmud Ayşe bt. Mahmud Ayşe bt. Mehmed Ayşe Hâtun bt. Pir Mehmed Bey Ayşe…
Freeborn Women’s Names Alemşah bt. Yusuf Amine Hâtun bt. Mehmed Aynî Hâtun bt. Ahmed Aynî Hâtun bt. Mehmed Aynî Hâtun bt. Salih Aynî Hâtun bt. Veli Aynî Hâtun bt. Veli Âişe bt. Ahmed Aişe bt. Behram Aişe bt. Behram Aişe Hâtun bt. Hasan Aişe Hâtun bt. Hasan Aişe Hâtun bt.…
Freeborn Women’s Names Âdile bt. Mehmed Alemşah Hâtun bt. Hayreddin Aynî Hâtun bt. Ebri Ayşe Hâtun bt. Ahmed Ayşe bt. Ali Bey Ayşe bt. Ali Ayşe Hâtun bt. Bali Bey Ayşe bt. Hacı Ebubekir Ayşe bt. İsa Ayşe bt. Hacı Mehmed Ayşe bt. Mehmed Çelebi Ayşe Hâtun bt. Mustafa Ayşe…
Freeborn Women’s Names Âbide Hâtun bt. Abdürrahim Abide Hâtun bt. Şah Ali Celebi Abide bt. Molla Muslihiddin Alemşah bt. Bayram Atike Hâtun bt. Şah Ali Celebi Aynî Hâtun bt. Ali Bey Aynî Hâtun bt. Hasan Ayşe bt. Abdulbari Ayşe bt. Pir Ahmed Ayşe bt. Ahmed Bey Ayşe bt. Ali Ayşe…
Freeborn Women’s Names Âmine bt. Hacı Hüseyin Aynî bt. Şaban Ayşe bt. Aydın Bey Cennet bt. Hasan Cennet bt. Yusuf Fatma bt. Ali Fatma bt. Cafer Fatma bt. Davud Fatma bt. Mehmed Fatma bt. Turhan Güllü bt. Süleyman Gülpaşa bt. Süleyman Hânî bt. Muslihiddin Hanife bt. Halil Hasnâ bt. Musa…
The names are organized by source, earliest to latest. Within each source, the names are divided into lists of freeborn women, slaves, and ambiguous converts whose status could not be determined. Each instance of a name represents a unique individual. In a naming pool as conservative as this, with frequencies…
The records I used were transcribed from the Ottoman Turkish alphabet into the modern Turkish alphabet, turned into PDFs, and placed online by ISAM, the Istanbul Kadi Registers Project (www.kadisicilleri.org), which focuses on records from the greater Istanbul area. All of the communities represented were in the immediate vicinity of…