Stotinka in Bulgarian means "a hundredth" and in fact is a transliteration of the French term "centime."

Since 1997, the lev has been in a currency board arrangement with initially the Deutsche Mark at a fixed rate of BGL 1000 to DEM 1.

Since 2020, the lev has been a part of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II).

The oldest images, found on slates in the city of Stara Zagora, date back to the 9th–10th century AD.

A lion is depicted on The Madara Horseman – an impressive medieval rock relief carved into a towering rock plateau in northeastern Bulgaria in the 7th or 8th century AD, which is on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

[10] Paisii of Hilendar, a discerning monastic and a key Revival figure, mentioned in his ground-breaking tome Istorija Slavjanobolgarskaja that Bulgarians had a lion on their kings' royal seal: a symbol of the bravery, courage and invincibility of Bulgarian warriors, who fought "like lions."

In the immediate period leading up to the revolt, revolutionary flags were made, featuring a golden lion rampant and the motto "Freedom or Death."

These flags, most often hand-made by local teachers or icon painters, have been preserved in Bulgarian museums to the present day.

Most flags were made of green silk and had a painted or embroidered lion on them, in a heraldic posture and trampling over the Crescent – the symbol of the Ottoman Empire.

Until 1916, Bulgaria's silver and gold coins were issued to the same specifications as those of the Latin Monetary Union.

Banknotes issued until 1928 were backed by gold (leva zlato / zlatni, лева злато / златни) or silver (leva srebro / srebarni, лева сребро / сребърни).

Production of silver coins ceased in 1916, with zinc replacing cupro-nickel in the 5, 10, and 20 stotinki in 1917.

In 1928, a new series of notes (dated 1922 and 1925) was introduced which gave the denominations solely in leva.

All stotinki coins feature a head of wheat around denomination on the reverse and state emblem on the obverse, while the lev coin depicts an olive branch wreath around the denomination.

During the period, until 1989 the lev was backed by gold, and the banknotes have the text stating: "The bank note is backed by gold and all assets of the bank" (Bulgarian: "Банкнотата е обезпечена със злато и всички активи на банката").

After the fall of communism, Bulgaria experienced several episodes of drastic inflation and currency devaluation.

The coin series strongly resembles coinage from the Soviet Union during the same period, particularly in design and size.

Higher denomination lev coins have also been introduced into circulation at an irregular basis with varying sizes and metallic compositions, including silver.

Similar occurrences to this can be seen with high denomination coins from East Germany and Poland during the same period.

In 1992, after the communist era, older coins were withdrawn and a new coinage was introduced in denominations of 10, 20 and 50 stotinki, 1, 2, 5 and 10 leva.

Furthermore, two new banknotes of 20,000 and 100,000 leva were scheduled to be introduced in 1997 and 1998, but their production was canceled following the introduction of currency board in 1997.

Since Bulgaria gained EU membership in 2007 various dates have been suggested as the expected end of the lev: towards the end of that year 1 January 2012 was a possible date;[18] however, the 2007–2008 financial crisis and the Eurozone crisis reduced the initial enthusiasm for the euro.

[19] In 2011 the Bulgarian finance minister Simeon Djankov acknowledged his earlier eagerness for Bulgaria to join the euro, but considered 2015 as a more likely date.