[1] Pavlikeni was a centre of ceramics and pottery in Antiquity as evidenced by the remains from Roman and Thracian times.

Its name derives from the Paulicians, a Christian sect settled in Thrace by Leo the Isaurian.

After the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in 1877–1878, the Turks left to be replaced by Bulgarians from the Balkan Mountains and the villages of the plains.

Pavlikeni acquired town status in 1943 owing much to its position on the Sofia-Varna railway line.

The town had a factory for steel disc wheels and rims which export around five-eighths of the production to the European Union market.