'Bebek' means 'baby' in Turkish. Some believe its use as a name for this suburb comes from a shortened form of the term 'Boğaz'ın gözbebeği', which means 'pupil of the Bosphorus' or "the apple of the Bosphorus' eye" in Turkish. Others think it takes its name from the nickname for the handsome Mustafa Çelebi who was put in charge of this area after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. Yet others think it took its name from the Turkish expression meaning 'pretty as a baby'.
Bebek has been a popular residential district since Ottoman times and its historic architecture sometimes recalls the lost cosmopolitanism of the past. Today it is best known for a string of see-and-be-seen restaurants, cafes and shops catering to the city's more well-heeled residents.
Infrequent Şehir Hatları ferries, mainly timed to suit commuters, call into Bebek. Otherwise it is accessible by buses running along the coast road. It is a notorious traffic bottleneck, especially at weekends.
Down by the water, next to the Türkan Sabancı Park, the small Bebek Mosque, was designed in 1912 by the architect Kemaleddin Bey. It is sometimes called the Hümayunabad Mosque in memory of a palace of that name that once stood on the same site.
Inland from the water Bebek is home to the Lazarist Church of Sacre Coeur, all that remains of a large complex of buildings erected in 1908.
Also in the back streets is the Kavafyan Mansion, one of the oldest wooden buildings to survive in Istanbul. Dating back to 1751, it was built for Armenian shipbuilders. Unfortunately it has been left to fall into decay.

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