Bey Bey ( originally Beg ; / " Bek " ; Ottoman and / " Beg " or " Beyg " ) is a Turkish title for chieftain , traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups . The regions or provinces where " beys " ruled or which they administered were called " beylik " , roughly meaning " emirate " or " principality " in the first case , " province " or " governorate " in the second ( the equivalent of duchy in Europe ) . Today , the word is still used informally as a social title for men ( somewhat like the English word " mister " ) . Unlike " mister " however , it follows the name and is used generally with first names and not with last names . Etymology . The word entered English from Turkish " bey " , itself derived from Old Turkic " beg " , which - in the form " bäg " - has been mentioned as early as in the Orkhon inscriptions and is usually translated as " tribal leader " . The dialect variations " bäk " , " bek " , " bey " , " biy " , " bi " , and " pig " all derive from the Old Turkic form . The actual origin of the word is still disputed , though it is mostly agreed that it was a loan - word in Old Turkic . Two principle etymologies have been proposed by scholars : Nonetheless , German Turkologist Gerhard Doerfer assessed the derivation from Iranian as uncertain and pointed out the possibility that the word may be genuinely Turkic . What is certain is that the word has no connections to Turkish " berk " , " strong " ( Mongolian " berke " ) , or Turkish " bögü " , " shaman " ( Mong . " böge " ) . Turkish and Azerbaijani beys . The first three rulers of the Ottoman realm were titled " Bey " . The chief sovereign of the Ottoman Empire only came to be called sultan starting in 1383 when Murad I was granted this title by the shadow caliph in Cairo . The Ottoman state had started out as one of a dozen Turkish Ghazi " Beyliks " , roughly comparable to western European duchies , into which Anatolia ( i . e . , Asian Turkey , or Asia Minor ) had been divided after the break - up of the Seljuk Sultanate of Ikonion ( Konya ) and the military demise of the Byzantine Empire . Its capital was Bursa . By 1336 it had annexed only the Beylik of Karasy , its western neighbour on the coast of the Sea of Marmara , but it began to expand quite rapidly thereafter . As the Ottoman realm grew from a Beylik into an imperial sultanate , the title " Bey " came to be applied to subordinate military and administrative officers , such as a district administrator and lower - level minor military governors . The latter were usually titled sanjakbey ( after the term " Sanjak " , denoting a military horsetail banner ) . Beys were lower in rank than pasha s and provincial governors ( wāli s , usually holding the title of pasha ) , who governed most of the Ottoman vilayet s ( provinces ) , but higher than effendi s . Eventually the chiefs of the former Ottoman capitals Bursa and Edirne ( formerly the Byzantine Adrianople ) in Turkish Thrace both were designated " Bey . " Over time the title became somewhat devalued , as Bey was even used as a courtesy title ( alongside Pasha zade ) for a pasha ' s son . It also came to be attached to officers and dignitaries below those entitled to be pashas , notably the following military officer ranks ( still lower ranks were styled " efendi " ) : Oddly , the compound " Beyefendi " was part of the title of the husband ( full style " Damad - i - Shahyari " ( given name ) " Beyefendi " ) and sons ( full style " Sultanzade " ( given name ) " Beyefendi " ) of an Imperial Princess , and their sons in turn were entitled to the courtesy title " Beyzade " ( literally " Son of a Bey " . For the grandsons of an imperial princess , the official style was simply Bey after the name . ) . By the late 19th century , " Bey " had been reduced in the Ottoman Empire to an honorary equivalent of the English - speaking address ( not the British courtesy title ) " Sir " , somewhat akin to the contemporary Cockney usage of " guv ' nor . " While in Qazaq and other Central Asian Turkic languages , " бай " [ baj ] remains a rather honorific title , in modern Turkish , and in Azerbaijan , the word " bey " ( or " bay " ) simply means " mister " ( compare efendi ) or " sir " and is used in the meaning of " chieftain " only in historical context . " Bay " is also used in Turkish in combined form for certain military ranks , e . g . " albay " , meaning colonel , from " alay " " regiment " and " - bay " , and " yarbay " , meaning lieutenant colonel , from " yardim " " assistance " and " - bay " ( thus an " assistant " albay " " ) . As with most Turkish titles , it follows the name rather than precedes it as in western languages , " e . g . " " Ahmet Bey " for " Mr . Ahmet " . When one speaks of " Mr . Ahmet " , the title has to be written with a capital ( Ahmet Bey ) , but when one addresses him directly it is simply written without capital ( Ahmet bey ) . " Bey " may combine with " efendi " to give a common form of address , to which the possessive suffix " - ( i ) m " is usually added : " beyefendim " , " efendim " . " Beyefendi " has its feminine counterpart : " hanımefendi " , used alone , to address a woman without her first name . And with the first name : " Ayşe Hanım " or " Ayşe hanım " , for example , according to the rule given above about the use of the capital letter . Beys elsewhere . The title Bey ( ; ) could be maintained as a similar office within Arab states that broke away from the High Porte , such as Egypt and Sudan under the Muhammad Ali Dynasty , where it was a rank below pasha ( maintained in two rank classes after 1922 ) , and a title of courtesy for a pasha ' s son . Even much earlier , the virtual sovereign ' s title in Barbaresque North African ' regency ' states was " Bey " ( compare Dey ) . Notably in Tunis , the Husainid Dynasty used a whole series of title and styles including Bey : In the Mani Peninsula , in times of the Ottoman conquest of Greece , the " de facto " sovereign country of the Maniots in the southern Peloponnesus , had as head of state a chieftain which combined both military command and judiciary activities who was entitled as " Bey " following the Turkish influence over conquered areas , especially in the Balkans . It was usual to add the title to their own given names , therefore the most renowned " Bey of Mani " , Petros Mavromichalis was simply known as " Petrobey " . Other Beys saw their own " Beylik " promoted to statehood , e . g . : A bey is a shorter term for the toy known as a Beyblade . Bey or a variation has also been used as an aristocratic title in various Turkic states , such as " Bäk " in the Tatar Khanate of Kazan , in charge of a Beylik called " Bäklek " . The Balkar princes in the North Caucasus highlands were known as " taubiy " ( taubey ) , meaning the " mountainous chief " . Sometimes a Bey was a territorial vassal within a khanate , as in each of the three " zuzes " under the Khan of the Kazakhs . The variation " Beg " , " Baig " or " Bai " , is still used as a family name or a part of a name in South and Central Asia as well as the Balkans . In Slavic - influenced names , it can be seen in conjunction with the Slavic " - ov / - ović / ev " suffixes meaning " son of " , such as in Kurbegović , Izetbegović , Abai Kunanbaev . The title is also used within the Moorish American community / membership of the Moorish Science Temple of America as a tribal honorific which denotes an Islamic governor along with the pre - word El .