Traditionally, the Bulgarian given names are either of Slavic origin or from Greek, Latin or Hebrew when reflecting Christian faith (e.g. Petar, Maria, Ivan, Teodora, Georgi, Nikolay, Mihail, Paraskeva, Dimitar).
The Slavic names may describe the appearance or character of the person, may constitute a wish or even stem from pre-Christian conjuring rituals that are meant not to attract the evil spirits.
Below are listed examples of Bulgarian Slavic names and Bulgarian names of Greek, Latin, or Hebrew origin: Feminine names: Ana, Aneliya, Aneta, Bilyana, Bisera, Blagovesta, Bonislava, Bogdana, Borislava, Boryana, Boyana, Boyka, Bozhidara, Branimira, Daniela, Darina, Denitsa, Desislava, Diana, Dobromira, Elena, Elisaveta, Elitsa, Emilia, Evelina, Gabriela, Galya, Gergana, Ginka, Gloria, Grozda, Grozdana, Hristina, Iliana, Ioana, Iordanka, Ivanka, Ivelina, Kalina, Katerina, Krasimira, Kremena, Kristina, Lyudmila, Lyubov, Maia, Maria, Mariya, Marina, Mariyana, Margarita, Mila, Milena, Mira, Monika, Nadya, Nadezhda, Natalia, Nedelya, Neli, Nevena, Nikol, Nikolina, Nina, Nora, Nusha, Ognyana, Olga, Petya, Plamena, Rada, Radina, Radka, Radoslava, Radostina, Ralitsa, Raina, Raya, Rossitza, Roza, Rumyana, Savina, Simona, Stanislava, Snezhana, Stanka, Stilyana, Stoyanka, Svetlana, Tanya, Tatyana, Teodora, Todora, Todorka, Trendafila, Tsveta, Tsvetanka, Valentina, Vasilka, Veselina, Viktoria, Violeta, Vladimira, Vyara, Yana, Zhivka, Zlatka, Zora... Masculine names: Andrei, Angel, Aleksandar, Aleksi, Anastas, Anton, Asen, Asparuh, Atanas, Bogdan, Bogomil, Bojidar, Boris, Borislav, Boyan, Boiko, Branimir, Daniel, Danail, Delyan, Desislav, Dimo, Dobromir, Dragan, Dragomir, Elian, Genadi, Georgi, Grozdan, Hristiyan, Hristo, Hristofor, Ilian, Iordan Ioan (Yoan), Ivan, Ivo, Ivailo, Kalin, Kaloyan, Kiril, Kostadin, Krasimir, Krum, Lyuben, Lyubomir, Mihail, Milan, Milen, Miroslav, Mladen, Momchil, Nayden, Nedelcho, Nedyalko, Nikola, Nikolay, Ognian, Ognyan, Pencho, Petar, Plamen, Radko, Radomir, Radoslav, Rayko, Rumen, Sabin, Samuil, Simeon, Spas, Stefan, Stanimir, Stanislav, Stanko, Stilyan, Stoyan, Theodosii, Tihomir, Todor, Tsvetan, Valko, Valentin, Vasil, Ventsislav, Veselin, Vladimir, Vladislav, Yasen, Yavor, Yordan Zdravko, Zhelyazko, Zhivko, Zdravko, Zlatan, Zlatko...
In addition, some Bulgarian names may be of Thracian (e.g. Neno, Dako, Geto) or Bulgar (Boris, Boyan, Biser) origin.
This practice often caused confusion in the past, especially when dealing for foreign institutions, since a child did not bear his father's family name.
Among Bulgarians in Serbia, as well as in other countries throughout the world, the a ending of women's surnames is usually dropped, resulting in names such as Elizabeta Nikolov instead of Nikolova.
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. Sofianski — "from Sofia", Stamboliyski — "from Istanbul").
Historically, the universal suffix "–ovich" and "-evich" 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 (where it is usually spelled "-ić").
[1] (Internet Archive link) Names lacking a suffix, although often foreign-sounding, have been more popular in the past, but still exist today (e.g. Beron, Tomash), despite being quite uncommon.
According to one study using telephone directory data, the five most popular male given names are Ivan (43,882 holders), Georgi (40,288), Dimitar (31,471) and Petar (20,602).