Stefana, Ivanka, Petrana or Nicole, Jaclyn, Cathrine? Georgi, Nikolay, Hristo or David, Antoan, Alex? Why is it that in recent years Bulgarians have been giving their children outlandish names, names untypical of our culture which at times leave us nonplussed? The answer comes in one word – vogue. It is all the rage to call your daughter Denise, for example. Yet the rule is that in the Bulgarian language female names must end in an “a” and the child may one day find herself in an awkward situation. But there is a parallel tendency of rediscovering ancient Bulgarian names, the kind that can be found in history books.

Linguists all agree – in a few years’ time, judging by the name, we shall no longer be able to distinguish whether they are Bulgarian children at all. Suffice it to enter any classroom at a primary school. You would be amazed at the number of Victorias or Gabrielas. Now, brief, “minimalist” names like Nya, Aya, Dea for girls and Nick, Deo or Alex for boys seem to be all the rage. When it comes to choosing their baby’s name, Bulgarians are open to all kinds of exotic choices. As a result, they opt for beautiful names, typical of our culture like Yordan, Todor, Vassil, Atanas less and less often. The good news is that in recent years there has been a heightened interest in our historical roots, and newborn babies have been given the names of Bulgarian tsars like Tervel, Kaloyan, Krum, Pressian, Boris. Double-barrel names also seem to be coming into vogue, again typical of medieval Bulgarian rulers – Ivan-Assen, Ivan-Alexander, Prof. Anna Choleva from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Institute for the Bulgarian Language says. As she puts it, the age-old tradition of naming babies after a grandfather or grandmother continues. But this is true most of all of boys and precedence is given to the father and the mother of the husband.

“Tradition is not what it used to be,” says Prof. Choleva. “The young marry more and more rarely and do not feel obligated to continue the tradition. They choose a name they like and their choice depends on the current fashion, whatever it may be. However we should remember that this is a global trend. When they give their baby a Western-sounding name Bulgarians tend to think that will help him or her prosper in life.”

Many want to give their baby a cosmopolitan name in the hope it will help their child carve out a career abroad and this has given rise to a curious but permanent transformation of some popular Bulgarian names. Thus Nikolina becomes Nicole, Stefanka - Stephanie, Ivanka - Yoanna. Yet some of the most widespread Bulgarian girls’ names are still the traditional Kalina, Raya, Elena, Desislava. On the whole we remain more conservative with regard to boys’ names, so Ivan, Dimitar, Nikola, Stefan, Georgi are still very popular.

“The belief in the magical power of names – mostly as a way to formulate a wish – is from time immemorial and continues in our day,” says Prof. Choleva. This explains why names connected with the idea of beauty like Rumyana (from rumena or pink-cheeked) or with flowers and plants – Yassen (ash-tree), Yavor (sycamore) Tsvetelina (from tsvete - flower) are still so popular. Small wonder then that Tsvetnitsa (Palm Sunday) is one of the best-loved feast days in this country.

English: Milena Daynova