M. Kemal | Progress of a Signature

The surname Atatürk can be divided into two parts: Ata and Türk. Ata means "father" or "ancestor", while Türk means "Turk" or "Turkish People." Thus, "Atatürk" means "Father of Turkish People" or "Ancestor of Turkish People." The current common use in Turkey is to refer to him by his last name Atatürk.

Mavi Boncuk | 

Mustafa Atatürk had Mustafa (Mustapha) as his name at birth. Mustafa (Arabic: مصطفى‎ – Muṣṭafā, "the chosen one"), an epithet of Islam's prophet Muhammad, was a common name at that time. 

Mustafa Kemal
Young Mustafa studied at the military junior high school in Salonica (Salonica Military School), where his mathematics teacher Captain Üsküplü Mustafa Sabri Bey gave him the additional name Kemal ("perfection") because of his academic excellence.

Mustafa Kemal Bey
On November 27, 1911, Mustafa Kemal was promoted to the rank of Binbaşı (command of a thousand soldier). In Ottoman military ranks, Bey was a common title given to all levels above Binbaşı. Therefore Mustafa Kemal Efendi became called as "Mustafa Kemal Bey".

Mustafa Kemal Pasha
On April 1, 1916, Mustafa Kemal was promoted to the rank of Mirliva (brigade commander). In Ottoman military ranks, Pasha was a common title given to all levels above Mirliva. Therefore he became known as "Mustafa Kemal Pasha" (Turkish: Paşa). 

Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha
On September 19, 1921, Turkish Grand National Assembly (GNA) presented him with the title Gazi (combat veteran and/or wounded veteran) with the rank of Marshal for his achievements during the War of Independence, hence "Gazi Mustafa Kemal". 

Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
On June 21, 1934, the GNAT recognized the need for registration, and use of fixed hereditary surnames. The Surname Law was proposed and later put into force. On November 24, 1934 the GNAT with a special law bestowed on "Mustafa Kemal" the surname "Atatürk". The GNAT consecutively established the "Atatürk" as a unique surname. The surname Atatürk may be used only by "Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk".

For a short period of time he signed his name as Mustafa Kamal (Arabic: مصطفى کمال )  as seen from the citizenship certificate.

Below is the calligraphic version[1], that is not from his own hand.

[1] Designed by Robert College Math and Caligraphy instructor Hagop Vahram Çerçiyan. 

While few Turkish citizens would fail to recognize the leader’s signature, even fewer know that an Armenian Turk created the iconic signature – in just one night. “It was early in the morning. Someone knocked on our door. Worried, my mother came back telling my father that police was asking for him,” 

Dikran Çerçiyan, the 90-year-old son of the signature’s creator, Hagop Vahram Çerçiyan, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in recalling the day in 1934 when authorities came looking for a master signature maker. Hagop Vahram Çerçiyan worked as a teacher for 55 years at Istanbul’s prestigious Robert College, overseeing the graduation of 25,000 students, including former Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, former foreign ministers Selim Sarper and Turgut Menemencioğluları and former Cabinet minister Kasım Gülek. 

 Though teaching math and geography at Robert College at the time, Çerçiyan had also gone to the United States to learn the Palmer Method, a system of handwriting that became popular in the country. Upon his return to Turkey, Çerçiyan also taught the method at Robert College.