Women's surnames usually add "-а"
: "Мария Иванова Петрова"
. Officially you use the surname: "господин Петров"
, "госпожа Петрова"
. Friends use short forms: Georgi becomes "Гошо"
, Dimitar "Митко"
, Maria "Мими"
. Children are often named after their grandparents.
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Bulgarian names
Bulgarians usually have three names: a first name, a middle name formed from the father's first name, and a surname — e.g. "Иван Георгиев Петров"
.
History of Bulgaria
An illustrated history of Bulgaria
Explore Bulgaria
Slavic cousins
Bulgarian is a South Slavic language, closest to Macedonian and related to Serbian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and Czech.
Merci and thank you
Bulgarians say "мерси"
all the time.
Ayde — come on!
"Айде"
(or "хайде"
) is one of the most useful words in Bulgarian.