All parents want to choose beautiful names for their children. And they go through hundreds of names, together with family and friends, names of celebrities or people who have been a success in life. In search of an original name, some parents even go as far as making names up themselves.

First names should have a euphonious ring to them when pronounced together with the middle name (in Bulgaria it is a patronymic) and with the surname – in this country the three names are obligatory. Besides euphony, parents often look for encoded messages in the names they give their children. Since time immemorial people have believed that the given name affects a person’s character traits and destiny. Christians who are religious often select the name of a saint in the hope that he will be their child’s celestial guardian throughout life.

Almost every name has its own history and meaning. This is a sphere of research for linguists who study the meaning, origin and spread of different names through the years. The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Institute of Bulgarian Language Studies in Sofia has a department which issues certificates of one’s first name and surname. These documents are drawn up by experts who have been studying Bulgarian names for years; they say that more and more people want to find out what the origin and meaning of their names is. The Institute conducted a survey, looking into the tendencies in the names Bulgarians give their children.

“By studying the names of newborns we can predict what the Bulgarian name system will be like in future,” says Prof. Anna Choleva-Dimitrova, head of the survey on personal names and the “vogue” in Bulgaria’s big cities.

The most popular name for boys on the territory of Bulgaria is Ivan and for girls – Maria. The tradition of naming children after grandmothers and grandfathers is still alive in the country, though parents often try to make the names sound “more modern”, sometimes leaving just the first letter of the original name. Thus, if the grandfather’s name is Velcho, the grandchild may be called Victor, a name currently very popular. When one studies the name system, it is imperative to take a look at the world we live in. There are 1.5 million Bulgarians living abroad. When they leave the country, some of the parents leave their children behind to be looked after by grandparents. Other Bulgarian babies are born abroad and names are chosen for them that would help their integration in the respective country. So, parents turn to Western names to replace traditional Bulgarian names. Thus, if the grandmother is called Stefka the granddaughter may be named Stephanie. Names currently in vogue are Alexander (spelled and pronounced as Alekzander, as opposed to the Bulgarian name spelled and pronounced as Aleksander) and Alehander. Traditional names like Grigor are transformed into Gregory, for example. But we have been seeing a reversion to traditional Bulgarian names as well. One name now in vogue is Kaloyan (after Tsar Kaloyan). There are two distinct tendencies – one is of giving babies modern, non-traditional names and the other of reverting to our historical past. Interest in popular tradition is running high – girl baby names that are currently popular are Raya, Kalina, Denitsa, Desislava; one name that stands out is Daria. But there is another tendency – that of inventing hitherto nonexistent names, and Bulgarian parents seem to be particularly resourceful. Often people with one child come up with a combination of the grandparents’ names on both sides.

“Bulgarian law is very liberal and allows for any changes in names. There is also one viewpoint that the triple component name system of personal name, patronymic and surname should be dropped as it is redundant,” says Prof. Anna Choleva-Dimitrova.

“We must stand by our identity, our names and not forget them. Bulgarians have of late been altering their surnames, abandoning names in use for generations. That is why in our day we have so many people called Ivanov, Petrov or Dimitrov. What we have here is a retreat from ancestral memory, I myself would like to see people revert to their roots. It is for this reason that our institute issues name certificates – certifying what a given surname means, which is in most cases a “footprint” of our ancestral history.”

English version: Milena Daynova