FemaleOrigin: Turkish / Old Turkic

İnci: Meaning, Origin and Pronunciation

İnci is a girl’s name of Turkish origin. It means “pearl”.

Say it: een-jee

About the name İnci

Meaning: pearl
Origin: Turkish / Old Turkic; Old Turkic yinçü.
Gender: Female
Pronunciation: een-jee

How to pronounce İnci

Turkish spelling is phonetic: every letter is pronounced, and each letter always has the same sound. Our respellingeen-jee 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.

İnci

Letters English doesn’t haveFamiliar letters with a Turkish twist

İ
İ keeps its dot as a capital
Names starting with dotted i are written with a capital İ (İpek, İbrahim). Writing I instead turns it into the dotless ı sound.
Read about İ and I →
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.

İnci with Turkish suffixes

Turkish adds case endings where English uses prepositions. With a personal name the ending is separated by anapostrophe (İnci'ye, İnci'nin), 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 İnci is i, a front unrounded vowel. So two-way suffixes take e and four-way suffixes takei (vowel harmony):İnci'de, İnci'yi.

Because İnci ends in a vowel, a buffer letter keeps two vowels apart:y in İnci'yi, İnci'ye and İnci'yle, and n in the genitive İnci'nin.

Case forms of İnci
Case	Form	Example
Accusative (object)	İnci'yi	İnci'yi tanıyor musun? Do you know İnci?
Dative (to)	İnci'ye	İnci'ye bir mesaj yazdım. I wrote a message to İnci.
Locative (at / with)	İnci'de	Anahtarlar İnci'de. İnci has the keys. (lit. The keys are at İnci.)
Ablative (from)	İnci'den	İnci'den bir hediye aldım. I got a present from İnci.
Genitive (’s)	İnci'nin	Bu İnci'nin çantası. This is İnci’s bag.
Instrumental (with)	İnci'yle	Dün İnci'yle konuştum. I talked with İnci 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 female names of Turkish origin

Frequently asked questions

What does the name İnci mean?

İnci is a Turkish girl’s name meaning “pearl”. Its origin is Turkish / Old Turkic. Old Turkic yinçü.

How do you pronounce İnci?

Say it roughly as “een-jee”, keeping every vowel short and clear. Names starting with dotted i are written with a capital İ (İpek, İbrahim). Writing I instead turns it into the dotless ı sound.

How do you add suffixes to İnci in Turkish?

Because İnci is a proper name, case endings go after an apostrophe and follow vowel harmony: İnci'ye (to İnci), İnci'nin (İnci’s), İnci'de (at İnci’s) and İnci'yle (with İnci).