It is named after the medieval Bulgarian[1] writer and enlightener Saint Naum who founded it.

The Lake Ohrid area, including St Naum, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in North Macedonia.

[3] The monastery was established in the Bulgarian Empire in 905[4] by St Naum of Ohrid himself.

[5] The monastery had close ties with the printing house of Moscopole, a former prosperous Aromanian city now in Albania.

[8] Rebecca West devoted a chapter of Black Lamb and Grey Falcon to her visit to Sveti Naum, which occurred in 1937.