MaleOrigin: Persian

Cem: Meaning, Origin and Pronunciation

Cem is a boy’s name of Persian origin. It means “Jamshid, a legendary king of ancient Persia; ruler”.

Say it: jem

About the name Cem

Meaning: Jamshid, a legendary king of ancient Persia; ruler
Origin: Persian; From Persian Jam (Jamshid).
Gender: Male
Pronunciation: jem

Well-known bearer

Cem Sultan (15th century), son of Mehmed II, was a prince and poet.

How to pronounce Cem

Turkish spelling is phonetic: every letter is pronounced, and each letter always has the same sound. Our respellingjem is an approximation for English speakers. Turkish stresses syllables much more evenly than English, so avoid hitting one syllable hard. Tap the letters below for tips.

Cem

Letters English doesn’t haveFamiliar letters with a Turkish twist

c
c sounds like “j”
Turkish c is always the j of “jam”, never a k or s sound: Can = “jahn”, Cem = “jem”.
Hear c in the alphabet tool →

Practice the sounds in the Turkish alphabet tool or readhow to pronounce i, dotless ı and soft g.

Cem with Turkish suffixes

Turkish adds case endings where English uses prepositions. With a personal name the ending is separated by anapostrophe (Cem'e, Cem'in), but it is still pronounced as one word. The apostrophe only marks where the name ends; the suffix itself follows the usual rules.

The last vowel of Cem is e, a front unrounded vowel. So two-way suffixes take e and four-way suffixes takei (vowel harmony):Cem'de, Cem'i.

Because Cem ends in a consonant, vowel-initial endings attach directly (Cem'i, Cem'e) with no buffer letter.

Case forms of Cem
Case	Form	Example
Accusative (object)	Cem'i	Cem'i tanıyor musun? Do you know Cem?
Dative (to)	Cem'e	Cem'e bir mesaj yazdım. I wrote a message to Cem.
Locative (at / with)	Cem'de	Anahtarlar Cem'de. Cem has the keys. (lit. The keys are at Cem.)
Ablative (from)	Cem'den	Cem'den bir hediye aldım. I got a present from Cem.
Genitive (’s)	Cem'in	Bu Cem'in çantası. This is Cem’s bag.
Instrumental (with)	Cem'le	Dün Cem'le konuştum. I talked with Cem yesterday.

Forms are generated by TurkLogic’s tested grammar engine. See every case explained in theTurkish noun cases guide, or check the harmony of any word in thevowel harmony calculator.

More male names of Persian origin

Frequently asked questions

What does the name Cem mean?

Cem is a Turkish boy’s name meaning “Jamshid, a legendary king of ancient Persia; ruler”. Its origin is Persian. From Persian Jam (Jamshid).

How do you pronounce Cem?

Say it roughly as “jem”, keeping every vowel short and clear. Turkish c is always the j of “jam”, never a k or s sound: Can = “jahn”, Cem = “jem”.

How do you add suffixes to Cem in Turkish?

Because Cem is a proper name, case endings go after an apostrophe and follow vowel harmony: Cem'e (to Cem), Cem'in (Cem’s), Cem'de (at Cem’s) and Cem'le (with Cem).