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. ... Distribution of Slavic people by language The Slavic peoples (Greek: , Latin: , Arabic: ‎, Old Church Slavonic: , Russian: , Polish: , Serbian: ) are a linguistic and ethnic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in Europe, where they constitute roughly a third of the population. ...

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. Look up Appendix:Most popular given names by country in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up patronymic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A family name, 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 the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... Look up Peter, peter in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Mary may refer to: // Mary (mother of Jesus), the mother of Jesus of Nazareth Blessed Virgin Mary, the Catholic and Orthodox conception of the mother of Christ Gospel of Mary, Christian text Mary, mother of John Mark, one of the earliest of Jesus disciples Mary, sister of Lazarus, follower of... Look up 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. ... George or Georges may refer to: // Eddie George, American football player George Best (1946-2005), Irish soccer player George Brett (b. ... Nicholas is a male given name. ... 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 originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... 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. ... Asparukh or Isperikh (Bulgarian: Аспарух, Asparuh or Исперих, Isperih) was ruler of the Bulgars in the second half of the 7th century and is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Kingdom in 680/681. ... 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. ... Samuil (Bulgarian: Самуил) (ca. ... Krum (Bulgarian: ) (died April 13, 814) was ruler of Bulgaria, from after 796/ before 803 to 814. ...

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 that saints day. ...

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, Zhoro or Gogo, of Hristo — Itso, of Ivayla — Iva, of Lyubomir — Lyubo, of Ivan — Vanka, 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 daughter 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. 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/–ev" and respectively "–ova/–eva" 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/–ev" or "-–ova/–eva" 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 (15 September 2006)  - City 1,246,791  - Density 907/km²  - Metro 1,377,761 Time zone EET (UTC+2)  - Summer (DST) EEST (UTC... Istanbul (Turkish: Ä°stanbul, Greek: , historically known in English as Constantinople; see other names) is Turkeys most populous city, and its cultural and financial center. ...

Another suffix is "–in/–ina" (e.g. Kunin, Ganina, Radin). Unlike all other Bulgarian patronymics and family names, these stem from a female name (e.g. "of Kuna", "of Gana", "of Rada"). They are most common in the region of Razlog and Bansko.

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.), particularly 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. ... Kiril Peychinovich (c. ... Roman Catholicism in Bulgaria: Roman Catholicism is the third largest religious congregation in Bulgaria after Eastern Orthodoxy and Islam. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

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

Bulgarian (Български език, Balgarski ezik) is an Indo-European language, a member of the Southern branch of the Slavic languages. ...

External links

• List of Slavic Bulgarian names (Bulgarian)
• Name and Destiny, article about Bulgarian names and an alphabetical database (Bulgarian)
• FAQ about Bulgarian names — meaning, origin, name days, popularity, statistics, etc.