Compared to other systems, the Bulgarian name system can be said to be rather simple. As a whole, it has considerable similarities with most other European name systems, and with those of other Slavic peoples in particular. World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... The Slavic peoples are a linguistic and ethnic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in Europe. ...

Bulgarian names usually consist of a given name, which comes first, a patronymic, which is second (and is usually omitted when referring to the person), and a family name, which comes last. A given name is a word which specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name. ... A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the name of ones father. ... A family name, or surname or last name, is the part of a persons name that indicates to what family he or she belongs. ...

Bulgarian given names

Traditionally, the Bulgarian given names are either of Slavic (e.g. Radoslava, Zhelyazko, Dobri, Ralitsa, Lyubomir, Svetla, Zhivko, Nayden) or Christian origin (e.g. Petar, Mariya, Ivan, Teodora, Georgi, Nikolay, Mihail, Paraskeva) from Greek, Latin or Hebrew. The Slavic names may describe the appearance or character of the person, may constitute a wish or even stem from pre-Christian conjuring rituals and meant not to attract the evil spirits. The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) comprise the languages of the Slavic peoples. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on Jesus of Nazareth, and on his life and teachings as presented in the New Testament. ... Look up Peter, peter in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Mary is a popular female given name. ... // Look up John, john in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Theodora can refer to any of the following: Flavia Maximiana Theodora, daughter of the Roman Emperor Maximian and second wife of the Emperor Constantius I Chlorus. ... The name George has its origin in ancient Greek Geōrgios (), a derivation of the noun geōrgos () husbandman, farmer, a compound of gē () earth and ergon () work. The name was rare in Antiquity, but became extremely popular in Christianity thanks to Saint George. ... The male given name Nicholas is derived from the Greek Nikolaos, a combination of the words for victory (nike) and people (laos). ... Look up Michael in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Aghia Paraskevi and votive objects Aghia Paraskevi (or Saint Paraskeva) is a saint recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language. ... Hebrew (עִבְרִית or עברית, ‘Ivrit) is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Jewish communities around the world. ... Slavic mythology and Slavic religion evolved over more than 3,000 years. ...

Since the Bulgarian National Revival and the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 names of successful medieval Bulgarian rulers, like Asen, Boris, Asparuh, Ivaylo, Samuil or Krum, have also gained a lot of popularity. The Bulgarian national revival (Vazrazdane) was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people in the Ottoman Empire. ... In Bulgarian historiography, the term Liberation of Bulgaria is used to denote the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the establishment of a Bulgarian state with the Treaty of San Stefano of 3 March 1878. ... // Rulers of Bulgaria Note on titles According to a controversial 17th century Volga Bulgar source, early Bulgar leaders bore the title of baltavar, which might mean ruler of Avars, although this is likely a folk etymology. ... The Asen dynasty ruled the Second Bulgarian Empire between 1187 and 1280. ... Boris I Michail or Boris I Michael (Bulgarian Борис I Михаил, known also as Bogoris)(died May 2, 907) was the khan from 852 to 889 and first Christian ruler of Bulgaria. ... Ivailo (Bulgarian: Ивайло ), nicknamed Bărdokva (radish or lettuce) or Lakhanas (cabbage) was a rebel leader in Bulgaria in 1277 and reigned as emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 1278 to 1279. ... It has been suggested that Samuils Inscription be merged into this article or section. ... Krum gathers his people. ...

Traditionally, the parents would often name their child after an older relative, so that his/her name would live on in the family, or would give the child the name of the saint on whose feast day it was born. Today, however, these are not binding conditions and are often ignored: parents often pick a name without conforming with these traditions. The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organising a liturgical year on the level of days by associating each day with one or more saints, and referring to the day as the saints day of that saint. ...

Many Bulgarian given names have a diminutive and shorter version, which is almost always used in an informal context. For example, the diminutive of Nadezhda is Nadya, of Todor — Toshko, of Nikolay — Niki or Kolyo, of Georgi — Gosho or Zhoro, of Hristo — Itso, of Ivayla — Iva, of Lyubomir — Lyubo, etc. Often these diminutive names become independent and "official" given names.

Bulgarian patronymics and family names

Usage

Typically, a Bulgarian person would inherit the last name of his father's family (family name), as well as a patronymic based on his father's given name, with a gender-agreeing suffix usually added. For example, Stoyan Georgiev Draganov would be the son of Georgi Petkov Draganov. The same person's daugher would bear the names Georgieva Draganova. In languages, agreement is a form of cross-reference between different parts of a sentence or phrase. ... Suffix has meanings in linguistics, nomenclature and computer science. ...

When marrying, today a woman may often choose either to adopt her husband's family name, retain her maiden name or combine the two using a hyphen. For instance, when marrying Nikolay Petrov, Mariya Bogdanova could become Petrova, remain Bogdanova or adopt Petrova-Bogdanova or Bogdanova-Petrova. Historically, she would adopt her husband's name. In any case, a woman retains her patronymic, which she has inherited from her father, although only the father's patronymic would pass to the children. To meet Wikipedias quality standards and appeal to a wider international audience, this article may require cleanup. ...

Etymology

In most cases (though far not always), the etymology of Bulgarian patronymics and family names closely corresponds to that of given names. Many families bear the name of the family's founder, adding the patronymic Slavic suffix "–ov/–ev" (men) or "–ova/–eva" (women) (e.g. Ivanov, Radeva, Parvanov, Petrova, Asenov, Tsvetanova). Family names may indicate the occupation of the founder, his nickname or origin, in which case names of Ottoman Turkish or Greek etymology can be found (e.g. Kolarov, Kalaydzhieva, Popova, Cholakov, Kovacheva, Daskalov, Uzunova). Ottoman Turkish (Turkish: Osmanlıca or Osmanlı Türkçesi, Ottoman Turkish: لسان عثمانی - lisân-i Osmânî) is the variant of the Turkish language that was used as the administrative and literary language of the Ottoman Empire. ...

Suffixes

Although most popular, "–ov" and respectively "–ova" are not the only patronymic and given name suffixes. The second most popular suffix is "–ski/–ska" (sometimes "–ki/–ka") (e.g. Zelenogorski, Stoykovska, Petrinska), which, besides often being merely a version of an "–ov/-–ova" name, may also often indicate origin (e.g. Sofiyanski — "from Sofia", Stamboliyski — "from Istanbul"). Position of Sofia in Bulgaria Coordinates: Country Bulgaria Province Sofia-City Mayor Boyko Borisov Area    - City 1,310 km²  - Land (?) km²  - Water (?) km² Elevation 550 m Population    - City (12 June 2006) 1,203,680  - Density 907/km²  - Metro 1,326,377 Time zone EET (UTC+2) EEST (UTC+3) Website... Istanbul (Turkish: , Greek: , see other names) is Turkeys most populous city, and its cultural, and economic centre. ...

Another suffix is "–in/–ina", which indicates that the person is the child of an unmarried woman (e.g. Kunin, Ganina, Radin). Unlike all other Bulgarian patronymics and family names, these stem from a female name.

For these three most popular suffixes, there is also a plural form used when referring to the family as a whole or several members of it (as opposed to a single member). For "–ov/–ova" and "–ev/–eva" it is "–ovi/–evi", for "–ski/–ska" it is "–ski" and for "–in/–ina" the form is "–ini".

Historically, the universal suffix "–ich" was quite popular in some regions (bearers of such names include Gavril Krastevich, Hristofor Zhefarovich, Petar Parchevich, Kiril Peychinovich, etc.), particulary among the Roman Catholic Bulgarians, but has today largely fallen out of use and is more typical for the Serbo-Croatian name system. Dedication of Stemmatographia from Pavel Nenadović to Hristofor Zhefarovich Hristofor Zhefarovich (original Cyrillic Христофоръ Жефаровичъ; Bulgarian: Христофор Жеварович; Macedonian: Христофор Жефаровиќ; Serbian: Христофор Жефаровић and Hristofor Žefarović) was an 18th-century South Slavic painter, engraver, writer and poet and a figure of the Illyrian movement. ... Roman Catholicism in Bulgaria: Roman Catholicism is the third largest religious congregation in Bulgaria after Eastern Orthodoxy and Islam. ... Serbo-Croatian (srpskohrvatski or hrvatskosrpski) is a name for a language of the Western group of the South Slavic languages. ...

In addition, other suffixes also existed: for instance, names like Tihanek, Kozlek, Lomek (suffixed "–ek") were historically dominant in the town of Koprivshtitsa.^[1] Koprivchtitsa Koprivshtitsa (Bulgarian: Копривщица) is a town in the Sofia region of Bulgaria, lying on the Topolnitsa river among the Sredna Gora mountains. ...

Names lacking a suffix, though often foreign-sounding, have been more popular in the past, but still exist today (e.g. Beron, Tomash), despite being quite uncommon.

Most popular names

According to one study using telephone directory data, the ten most popular given names are Ivan, Georgi, Dimitar, Petar, Mariya, Hristo, Todor, Nikolay, Vasil and Stefan. The top ten family names are Ivanov/a, Georgiev/a, Dimitrov/a, Petrov/a, Nikolov/a, Hristov/a, Stoyanov/a, Todorov/a, Iliev/a and Vasilev/a.^[2] Moscow phone book, 1930. ...

According to a different study, the most popular names given to babies born in the first half of 2006 were:^[3]

• Male: Georgi (674 babies), Aleksandar (616), Martin (577), Ivan (551), Dimitar (433)
• Female: Viktoriya (510), Mariya (474), Aleksandra (347)

See also

• Bulgarian language
• Bulgarians
• List of Slavic given names

Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Southern branch of the Slavic languages. ... // Names used in Slovakia The following names are present in the 2004 Slovak calendar. ...

External links

• List of Slavic Bulgarian names (Bulgarian)
• Name and Destiny, article about Bulgarian names and an alphabetical database (Bulgarian)