Female and male Bulgarian names, their meaning. Bulgarian names Surname Medveditkov Bulgarian or Russian

The centuries-old traditions of any country are largely reflected in the names that parents give to their children at birth. For example, many Bulgarian names have special meaning and show certain features of the child. In addition, they may contain a wish for success, health or wealth for a person. Some of them have Slavic roots, others - Muslim. As in other countries, children nowadays are called by international names.

Origin and traditions

The most common names in Bulgaria are of Slavic origin. They became most popular when the Orthodox faith. Except them, Names of other origins have also become widespread:

• Turkish;
• Greek;
• Latin;
• Jewish.

Around the middle of the 20th century, Western European and American names, often children began to be named after famous performers, actors or heroes of films and books.

However, compared to many other countries, many, especially Bulgarian male names, have remained unchanged. This is because in Bulgaria there is still a tradition of naming children in honor of their ancestors, and often a child could be named after his grandmother or grandfather, regardless of his gender. Names in the country are also unique in that many of them have both masculine and feminine forms. Among them:

• Zhivka-Zhivko;
• Kalin-Kalina;
• Todor-Todorka;
• Spas-Spaska.

Often names are chosen according to church calendar. Then the child is named after the saint on whose day he was born. A name can also mean one or another property. This is explained by the Bulgarians' belief in the power of words. The influence of other cultures, in particular Turkish, is felt in the names. These names are of Turkish origin, How:

• Demir and Demir;
• Emine;
• Mustafa and other Muslim names.

In addition, there are a lot of gypsies in the country. For this reason, there are people here whose names are Gozho, Evsenia, Bakhtalo and others. Some of them really have Romani origin, in other cases, parents named their children that way due to influence.

Features of female and male names

The country is unique in that people are called, following centuries-old traditions, and still exists a large number of original traditional names. The variety of Bulgarian names for girls is amazing. Many of them have special meaning, for example:

There are women's traditional names of this country, which in Russia are considered masculine, and in short form. For example, Petya or Vanya. In Bulgaria you can often meet girls whose names are Tsvetans, Ivankas, Tsvetskas, Jordankas, Zornitsas and more.

Men's names also have their own characteristics. In particular, there are a large number of them that end in “slav” or “peace”:

• Zlatoslav;
• Radimir;
• Lubomir;
• Zlatoslav.

No less popular are the names more familiar to Russians - Vladimir or Yaroslav. Original Bulgarian names can be called short forms, which are often considered official. For example, Tosho (from the full Todor), Gogo (George), as well as Zhivko, Zlatko and more.

Like women's names, Bulgarian boys' names have their own meaning. In addition, it was often possible to determine by the boy’s name what his family was doing.

For example, Dimitars or Georgies most often called the children of peasant farmers. But Philippas most often appeared in the families of riders or horse breeders. This name translates to “horse lover.” It is quite possible that the ancestors of the singer Kirkorov were involved in horses.

Other meanings of male names include:

In addition, common male names in Bulgaria are Angel or Apostle. It is worth noting that there are more men in Bulgaria who have “Angel” written in their passport than in the world. For this reason, many call Bulgaria “the country of Angels”.

Modern tendencies

If you believe the statistics of the Bulgarian National Institute, the number of names in the country is more than 67 thousand names. Moreover, if there are 29 thousand male names, there are much more female ones - 38 thousand, respectively.

Boys are most often called Ivan and Georgiy. 38 percent of the male population is called this way. And the most common female name in the country is Maria, if we also count its form as Mariyka.

Other common names in the country include:

Today, one of the most popular names for newborn girls is Victoria, which can be called a trend towards globalization. But boys are still mostly called Georgies. And also in last years girls were often called double names in a foreign way, such as Anna-Maria, Maria-Margarita and others.

Last names and patronymics

The concept of a surname as a family hereditary sign in Bulgaria appeared relatively recently compared to other European countries. Their history of formation began only end of the 19th century century.

In spelling, they do not differ from traditional Russian surnames, but, unlike them, they have a “floating” accent that can change. Like the Russians, many Bulgarian surnames feminine or masculine end in -ev (Botev or Tashev) or -ov (Todorov, Vazov). A smaller number were formed using the suffixes -shki, -ski or -chki, reminiscent of Polish. Their origins are ancient, associated with the cities or villages of human origin. For example, Lesicherski (a native of the village of Lesicharska) or Ohridski (from the city of Ohrid).

Many surnames of people in Bulgaria are derived from given names - both directly Bulgarian and Christian in general. For example, Pavlov, Isaev, Ivanov and others, some are in no way different from Russians.

There are also special surnames that are also considered traditional Bulgarian, however, they may seem to be of Muslim origin. These include the surnames Hadzhipopov, Hadzhigeorgiev and others with a similar prefix. The word "Hajj" in Muslim world interpreted as a pilgrimage to Mecca. In Bulgaria, the owners of such surnames may not be hereditary Muslims, but their ancestors during the time of Turkish oppression were called this way when they traveled to Jerusalem or visited other holy places, and not necessarily Muslim ones.

There are surnames that indicate nicknames or activities. For example, the surname Kovachev comes from the word “blacksmith” and is an analogue of the Russian surname Kuznetsov or the Ukrainian surname Kovalev (or Koval).

Currently, newborns in Bulgaria are given a choice of the surname of their father or mother, either assigned a new one after the name of their grandfather, or the surnames of their parents are combined. Previously, in most cases, women after marriage took their husbands' surnames, but now they mostly switch to a double one.

There are also Bulgarian patronymics. They differ from Russians by the absence of the characteristic ending “vich” or “vna” and are more reminiscent of surnames. For example, if a woman's name is Ivanka Stoyanova, and her father's name is Todor, then her full name will sound like Ivanka Todorova Stoyanova. If a person’s surname is Ivanov, and his father’s name is Ivan, then the surname and patronymic will look the same in writing, but will differ in emphasis. In the patronymic it will be on the first syllable, and in the surname it will be on the second, respectively.

Unlike others Slavic countries, in Bulgaria a large number of Old Church Slavonic names forgotten in Russia have been preserved, which are distinguished by their euphony and have their own meaning. The traditions that continue to be honored in the country contributed greatly. Although, despite this, the fashion for international names still growing. It’s too early to say whether they will be able to displace traditional ones.

Attention, TODAY only!

Bulgarian language belongs to the southern group Slavic languages, members of the Indo-European language family.

The modern Bulgarian name book contains names of different origins and related to different eras. The most ancient names include those common to the majority Slavic peoples, such as Velislav, Vladimer/Vladimir, Vladislav, Dragomir, Radomer/Radomir. Subsequently they underwent significant changes. For example, from the name Vladimir in the Bulgarian language they are formed male names Vlad, Vlado, Vladai, Vladaicho, Vladan, Vladin, Vladun, Vladyo, Vlaiko, Vlaicho, Lado. and female - Vlada, Vladepa, Vladka, Vladimirka, Vladitsa, Vladunka, Ladana.

With the adoption of Christianity by the Bulgarians (around 865), Bulgarian anthroponymy appears big number Christian names (Greek, Hebrew, Latin in origin): Alexander, Georgi, Ivan, Christo, Ana, Maria, Julia. Often christian names were replaced by tracing translations that were understandable to the people: Petar (Greek) - Kamen, Theodosius, Todor (Greek) - Bozhidar, Bogdan. In other cases, they were adapted taking into account the pronunciation norms of the Bulgarian language: Dimitri (Greek) - Dimitar, Dimo, Dimcho, Yoleazar (Jewish) - Lazar, Lazo, Lacho.

The most significant layer of names, both male and female, formed on the basis of the vocabulary of the Bulgarian language. These are appellative names, for example: Zlatan, Parvan, Vulkan, Krusho. In some cases, these are names-amulets, names-wishes that were given to a child to protect him from evil spirits and all sorts of troubles, for example: Valyako, Dobri, Zhivko, Zdravko, Lubeck, Ognyan, Stoyan. Female names were regularly formed from male personal names, while male ones from female ones much less frequently: Zlat (male) - Zlatitsa (female), Prodan - Sold, but Ruzha (female) - Ruzhan (male), Ekaterina - Ekaterin.

A characteristic feature of the Bulgarian anthroponymic system is the large number of formants, which made it possible to form from one name or root different names with the same semantics: for male names the suffixes -an, -yan, -din, -en, -il -in, -ko, -oy, -osh, -ush, -cho are productive, for female names -a, -I, -ka, -tsa, -che. Some of them give names a certain stylistic

coloring Thus, the formants -ko, -cho (masculine), -ka (feminine) can
introduce a diminutive connotation into the meaning of the name (especially if there are parallel forms of names: Andrey - Andreycho - Andreyko, Mladen - Mladencho,
Lila - Lilka). Actually diminutive suffixes: male names ence (Vasyo - Vasentse), female names -che (Maria - Mariyche). This category of names can also be used with the postpositive member -to.

Despite the long Turkish rule in the Balkan Peninsula, Turkish personal names are adopted to a very small extent by the Bulgarians; Turkish anthroponyms are common among Bulgarians who converted to Islam (Pomaks).

During the period of the Bulgarian revival (19th century), the number of borrowed foreign names increased, penetrating through literature, newspapers and magazines or associated with certain political or historical events, for example: Robinson, Romeo, Margarita, Lyudmila, Gurko, Venelin.

The Bulgarian name book is constantly enriched and replenished with new names, borrowed or created according to the well-known word-formation model: Plamen, Vihren (modeled on Rumen), Svetomir/Svetlomir (modeled on Vladimir), Snezhana/Snezhanka (modeled on Bozhana), Snezhinka.

The choice of AI for a child by parents in modern practice is arbitrary. In the past, the most common tradition was to name the first child, a boy, after his paternal grandfather, and a girl, after her paternal grandmother. The second child was named after the maternal grandfather or grandmother. If the child was born on the day of remembrance of a saint or on the day church holiday, then he was given the name of this saint or named in honor of a holiday, for example, Duho - in honor of the day of the Holy Spirit, Vrachena.
The surname was not typical for Bulgarians and appeared (in modern meaning) not earlier than the period of the Bulgarian Renaissance. Before this, patronyms in -ov, -ee (Petkov, Gotsev) and matronyms in -in (Dunkin, Jordan) served the function possessive adjectives and were used to explain AI. The same function was performed by place names in -ski, -chki, -shki, for example Kliment Ohridski (that is, from Ohrid), Dimcho Lesicherski (that is, from the village of Lesicharka), as well as numerous nicknames and nicknames such as Noncho Plyaka (ta) - plyaka ( colloquial) “cunning”, Mara Papazulya (ta)-papazulya (dial.) “popadya”.

However, the process of consolidating the patronymic and turning it into a surname gradually intensified. After the liberation of Bulgaria from the yoke Ottoman Empire(1878), with the establishment of new socio-political, cultural and everyday relations, AM “AI + surname” became widespread. Most often, the surname was formed from the father (less often the mother), sometimes the grandfather or more distant ancestors. Surnames could also be formed from nicknames (Mechkov-mechkata “bear”), names of professions and occupations (Kovachev, Kovachki, Kovashki<ковач «кузнец »; Сакаджиев, Сакаджийски<сакаджия «водонос »), топонимов (Ковачес/ш — названия села Ковачево). Женские фамилии образовывались от мужских прибавлением окончания -а (Ковачева). Фамилии на -ич, -ович, -оглу, -олу, распространенные в XIX веке, не характерны для современной антропонимической системы болгар.

A feature of the modern Bulgarian anthroponymic system can also be considered the introduction in some cases of a third member in AM. In passports, orders, applications and other official documents, the trinomial “AI + OI + NI” is used to identify individuals (Zakhara Stoyanov Nakolov). The use of a trinomial is a sign of extreme formality. Sometimes, in writing, the full AI or OI may be replaced by initials.

In everyday life, both in official and family communication, the binomial “AI + surname” is used. In the official business sphere of public life, people are addressed by last name or position, profession with the addition of the words drugar, drugarka “comrade” in the vocative form: drugar Kolya, drugarka Stankov. In family and everyday communication, Bulgarians most often use a personal name: Todore, Petre, Eleno, None.

In colloquial language, when respectfully addressing an elder, kinship terms in the vocative form were previously widely used (either independently or in combination with AI); uncle "grandfather", "grandfather", bai, chicho "uncle", bae, bate "elder brother", baba "grandmother", lelya "aunt", kaka "elder sister", "elder woman". In modern colloquial practice (colloquial speech), only the words bai and kaka are actively used, for example: bai Stojane, kako Donke.

Bulgaria is a country with an interesting history and culture. It amazes with its beauty, hospitality, delicious cuisine and wonderful nature. There is a lot of sun, sea, kindness and good mood. There are also a lot of names in Bulgaria. Perhaps no other country in the world has such a variety of them, and they are all amazingly beautiful in sound and rare. Belotsveta, Bazhana, Rusana, Desislava, Radoslav, Stanimir, Krasimir. Where else can you meet people with such interesting names? The Bulgarians managed to come up with a dozen names from the same root. For example, with the root -rad -: Radan, Radana, Radko, Radail, Radislav, Radostin, Radon, Radoy. And it should be noted that all of these are not variants of the same thing, that is, not an abbreviation. Each of them can be seen in the passport of a Bulgarian citizen. One can only guess how difficult it is for parents in Bulgaria to decide what to name their daughter or son. After all, they have to choose from more than 2,000 male nicknames, and the number of female nicknames exceeds the 3,000 mark.

A little history

The most ancient are Slavic. These include, for example, Boyan, Radislav, Dragomir, as well as the familiar for Russians - Vladimir. They have diminutive forms that are used not only in everyday life, but also in documentation. Even in the passport of a Bulgarian citizen you can find the names Boyko, Rado and Drago. But Vladimir in Bulgaria is not Vova or Volodya. The diminutive form of this nickname here is Vlado.

As a result of the settlement of the Slavs in the Balkans, Thracian, Latin and Turkic names began to appear in Bulgarian culture. And after the baptism of Rus', children here began to be called by Greek and Hebrew names. Despite the fact that Bulgaria was under Turkish rule for a long time, Muslim names are practically not common here. In recent decades, however, as in other countries, names of foreign origin are increasingly found here. It is not uncommon to meet little Diana, Nicole or Gabriela on the streets of the country.

• A person's first name in Bulgaria is more important than his last name. In some documents it is not even indicated;
• Bulgarians practically do not use patronymic names in everyday life, although officially every resident of the country has one;
• more than 50,000 men in Bulgaria are called Angel;
• Petya, Vanya, Borya and Gena in Bulgaria are worn by women, and boys here are called Lyudmil and Marin;
• Bulgarians have a lot of “flowery” nicknames. If for Russians these are Rose and Lily, then in Bulgaria you can find Tsvetana, Jasmine, Camellia, Ruzha, as well as men Tsvetana, Tsvetko and Rosen;
• Zapryanka and the male counterpart Zapryan are symbolic nicknames among Bulgarians. They are called boys and girls if there are too many children in the family, and the parents want to, as it were, lock the door, stop;
• the use of the forms Lenka, Verka, Lyubka does not carry a connotation of disdain in Bulgaria. With us it’s more like nicknames, but here they also call respected people;
• Bulgarians love to abbreviate. Anastasia - Ani, Elena - Elya, Magdalena - Magi, Nicolo - Niki, Violeta - Vili, Maria - Mimi;
• Newborns in Bulgaria are usually named after their grandparents. Few parents change this tradition. Some name their children by the first letter of their father's or mother's nickname;
• Until the second half of the 20th century, Bulgarians did not have surnames. This function was performed by the patronymic. For example, the son of Peter and the grandson of Kolya were called Ivan Petrov Kolyov;
• Among Bulgarians, patronymics are formed by adding the suffix - ov. If the Russians call Ivan’s son, for example, Pyotr Ivanovich, then in Bulgaria they will call him Pyotr Ivanov;
• Maria and Mariyka are different names among Bulgarians;
• Among the original male nicknames we can distinguish Apostle, Warrior and Master.

Common names

Most often boys in Bulgaria are called Georgiy. More than 170 thousand men are called this way, and this is 5% of the total population. This is evidenced by data from the National Institute of Statistics. More than 3% of residents are called Maria. This is the name most often given to newborn girls in Bulgaria. The second most popular male nickname is Ivan. It is quite a bit behind Georgiy. And just over 130 thousand of the male population are called Dimitar. This makes it the third most popular name. The top ten also includes Nikolay, Petyr, Hristo, Jordan and Aleksandir.

As for women's, the second most popular after Maria is Ivanka, followed by Elena, Yordanka, Penka, Mariyka, Rositsa. In the last five years, girls have been most often named Alexandra and Victoria, as well as Nicole, Gabriela and Simone, borrowed from the West. However, Bulgarians honor their culture, which is why the original Slavic names do not lose their popularity here.

**** HOLY TRINITY CHURCH - We believe that our joint desire and concern will help restore the “Holy Trinity” church and the ringing of its bells will become a symbol of faith, hope and love for all descendants of Bulgarian settlers in Tavria. - Ukraine. The village of Radolovka, Primorsky district, Zaporozhye region. - Historical reference. - ... “Holy Trinity” church was built in 1907 at the expense of the founders of the village - Bulgarian settlers who refused to convert to Islam from the Turks in Bulgaria and remained faithful to Orthodoxy. Construction of the church took about five years, using local building materials. The church was one of the most beautiful examples of Bulgarian church architecture on the territory of the Bulgarian colonies in the Azov region (Tavria). After the October Revolution of 1917 and the end of the civil war in 1929, the church was closed by communist activists of the village, the copper bells and cross from the church were sent for melting down, and a folk theater was opened in the church building. With the help of Bulgarian political emigrants, in 1930 the church was electrified and painted with scenes from the collectivization of the village, as a result of which all internal religious paintings of the temple were destroyed. A rural library was opened in the temple building in parallel with the folk theater. From September 17, 1943 to March 1944, a military field hospital was located in the church building; in the fall of 1943, the church building was bombed by the Nazis, as a result of which the central dome and bell tower were destroyed, and some of the wounded RKK soldiers who were in it at that time died. From 1944 to 2000, the church building was used as a granary and a warehouse for building materials. In 1977, taking into account the architectural value of the church building, the leadership of the Leningrad workshop for the restoration of architectural monuments proposed to the local collective farm to free the church from grain for its restoration, but this proposal was rejected. In 1994, a community of parishioners was formed in the village, which held several clean-up days to clear the church building of garbage. Since 2000, the church has been on the balance sheet of the Gyunovsky village council. In the same year, with the support of Father Dmitry from the city of Primorsk, the church was examined by specialists who drew up design and estimate documentation for the restoration of the church. During the entire existence of the “Holy Trinity” Church, it, like its creators and their descendants, had to endure a lot: the greatness and prosperity of the Bulgarian colonies in Tavria, revolutionary oblivion and the fire of intolerance, death and destruction of war, economic difficulties and instability of our time. ****

A correctly chosen name has a strong positive impact on a person’s character and destiny. Actively helps to develop, forms positive qualities of character and condition, strengthens health, removes various negative programs of the unconscious. But how to choose the perfect name?

Despite the fact that there are cultural interpretations of what male names mean, in reality the influence of the name on each boy is individual.

Sometimes parents try to choose a name before birth, preventing the child from developing. Astrology and numerology for choosing a name have squandered all serious knowledge about the influence of a name on fate over the centuries.

Calendars of Christmastide and holy people, without consulting a seeing, insightful specialist, do not provide any real help in assessing the influence of names on the fate of a child.

And lists of ... popular, happy, beautiful, melodious male names completely turn a blind eye to the individuality, energy, soul of the child and turn the selection procedure into an irresponsible game of parents in fashion, selfishness and ignorance.

Various characteristics according to statistics - positive traits of a name, negative traits of a name, choice of profession by name, influence of a name on business, influence of a name on health, psychology of a name can only be considered in the context of a deep analysis of subtle plans (karma), energy structure, goals for life and kind of a particular child.

The topic of compatibility of names (and not the characters of people) is an absurdity that turns the internal mechanisms of the influence of a name on the state of its bearer inside out on the interactions of different people. And it cancels the entire psyche, unconscious, energy and behavior of people. Reduces the entire multidimensionality of human interaction to one false characteristic.

The meaning of the name has no literal impact. For example, Gabriel (the power of God), this does not mean that the young man will be strong, and bearers of other names will be weak. The name can block his heart center and he will not be able to give and receive love. On the contrary, another boy will be helped to solve problems of love or power, which will make life and achieving goals much easier. The third boy may not have any effect at all, whether there is a name or not. Etc. Moreover, all these children can be born on the same day. And have the same astrological, numerological and other characteristics.

The most popular Bulgarian names for boys in 2015 are also a misconception. Despite the fact that 95% of boys are called names that do not make their fate easier. You can only focus on a specific child, the deep vision and wisdom of a specialist.

The secret of a man's name, as a program of the unconscious, a sound wave, vibration, is revealed in a special bouquet primarily in a person, and not in the semantic meaning and characteristics of the name. And if this name destroys a child, then no matter how beautiful, melodious with the patronymic, astrologically accurate, blissful it is, it will still be harmful, destroy character, complicate life and burden fate.

Below are a hundred Bulgarian names. Try to choose several that you think are most suitable for your child. Then, if you are interested in the effectiveness of the name’s influence on fate, .

List of male Bulgarian names in alphabetical order:

A:

Jordan - flowing down
Alexander - defender of humanity
Andon - invaluable
Andrey - man, warrior
Apostle - apostle, messenger
Asen - healthy, safe
Atanas - immortal

B:

Bogdan - a gift from God
Bogomil - God's mercy
Bojidar - divine gift
Bozhidar - a divine gift
Borislav - glory of battle
Branimir - protection and peace

IN:

Vazil - king

G:

Gabriel, Gabriel is the mighty man of God, my might is God
Gavrail - strong man of God

D:

Damyan - taming, subjugating
Danail - God is my judge
Dezislav - glory
Georgie the farmer
Dimitar - lover of the earth

AND:

Zhivko - alive

Z:

Zachary - God Remembers

AND:

Ivan - good god
Iveylo - wolf
Elijah - God is my lord
Ilya - God is my master
John - good god
Joseph - adding, multiplying
Jordan - flowing down

TO:

Kaloyan - handsome
Karliman - man
Kiril - lord
Crastayo - cross

L:

Lazarus - my god helped
Luben - love
Lyuben - love
Lyubomir - the world of love
Lyudmil - dear to people

M:

Momchil - boy, youth

N:

Nikifor - bringer of victory
Nikola - victory of the people

ABOUT:

Ognian - fire
Ognyan - fire

P:

Penko - rock, stone
Petar - rock, stone
Pleimn - fire, flame

R:

Radko - happy

WITH:

Sava - old man
Samuel - heard by God
Spas - saved
Stanimir - peaceful ruler
Stoyan - standing, persistent

T:

Timothy - worshiper of God
Todor - a gift from God
Tom is a twin
Tsvetan - flower

F:

Philip is a horse lover

X:

Christo - cross bearer

H:

Chavdar - leader

I:

Yang - God's grace, (Persian) soul, (Chinese) sun, man, (Tibetan) male energy, strength, (Turkish) support, (Slavic) river
Yanko - good god