Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, also known as Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 until the Surname Law of 1934, was a Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He undertook sweeping progressive reforms, which modernized Turkey into a secular, industrializing nation. Ideologically a secularist and nationalist, his policies and socio-political theories became known as Kemalism.

The Surname Law of the Republic of Turkey is a law adopted on 21 June 1934, requiring all citizens of Turkey to adopt the use of fixed, hereditary surnames. Prior to 1934, Turkish families in the major urban centres had names by which they were known locally, and were used in a similar manner with a surname. The Surname Law of 1934 enforced the use of official surnames but also stipulated that citizens choose Turkish names. Until it was repealed in 2013, the eldest male was the head of household and Turkish law appointed him to choose the surname. However, in his absence, death, or mental incapacitation the wife would do so.