Bulgarian Name Days are the Bulgarian expression of a custom practised in most countries in which the Eastern Orthodox or Greek Orthodox religion is the official denomination.
A Name Day is a day of the year set aside on the calendar of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to celebrate the name and life of a certain Saint. Everyone named after that specific saint has cause for celebration, somewhat similar to a large scale birthday.
Some name days are associated with certain specific traditions. For example, on St. Nick's Day a stuffed carp has to be cooked and served at dinner, while on St. George's Day a lamb must be prepared.
Even though name days in general are usually associated with saints in Bulgaria some of them are in honour of important figures from the history of Bulgaria.
Some common name days:
* St. Cyril and Metodi's (Methodius's) Day.
* Vasil's Day
* Ivan's Day
* St. Georgi's (George's) Day
* Dimitar's day
* Todor's Day
* St. Nick's Day
* St. Antoine
01 January - Vasil, Vasilena
02 January - Silvia
06 January - Jordan, Jordanka, Boyana, Boyan
07 January - Ivan, Ioan, Ivailo, Ivanka, Ioana, Ivaila, Ivet
11 January - Teodosii, Bogdan, Bogomil, Bogomila
12 January - Tatiana
17 January - Anton, Andon, Dona, Donka
18 January - Atanas, Atanaska, Jivko, Traian
20 January - Evtim
21 January - Maxim
24 January - Ksenia
25 January - Grigor
01 February - Trifon, Veselin, Radko, Veselina, Rada, Radka
02 February - Radost, Radostina
03 February - Simeon
06 February - Svetla
10 February - Haralampi
13 February - Evlogi
14 February - Valentin, Valya, Valyo
01 March - Evdokia, Marta, Martina, Boiko Martouvane
02 March - Milen, Milena
03 March - Todor, Dora, Teodora, Bojidar, Bojidara
04 March - Gerasim
05 March - Adrian, Adriana
06 March - Krasimir, Krasimira, whom people call decoration of the world.also Bella, Miroslav and Miroslava
09 March - Mladen - Mladentzi (All Saints Day)
10 March - Galya, Galyo, which means black, tawny, Galina
14 March - Venelin
22 March - Rosen, Rositsa
23 March - Lidia, Lydia. Lida in the folk beliefs is a spoilt lassĀ
24 March - Zahari, Zaharina. The name comes from Hebrew and means God remembers
25 March - Evangelina, Dobri, Dobrina, Dobrinka, Mariana, Blagovest, Blaguna
28 March - Albena, Boika
31 March - Veniamin
06 April - Strahil
11 April - Stanislav, Stanislava, Lazar
12 April - Stela, Zornica, Denica, Ralica
14 April - Martin
17 April - Roberta
18 April - Viktor, Viktoria, Vesela
21 April - Jelio
20 April - The day of the flowers (Sunday before Easter)
(Many people named after flowers or plants will celebrate their namedays on this Sunday)
27 April - Velichka, Velichko, Veliko, Velika, Svetla (Easter)
01 May - Maia
02 May - Boris, Boriana, Borislav, Borislava
04 May - Toma, Tomislav (Sunday after Easter)
05 May - Irina,Mira
06 May - Georgi, Gergana
10 May - Simona
11 May - Kiril, Metodi
12 May - Iskra
21 May - Konstantin, Elena, Kostadin, Stanimir, Stoian, Dicho, Lenko
30 May - Emilia
04 June - Panaiot, Ruslan
05 June - Doroteia
07 June - Valeria,Valeri
15 June - Avgustin, Avgustina
17 June - Asparuh, Krum, Asen, Chavdar, Rumiana, Rumen, Momchil, Desislava
20 June - Biser
21 June - Iavor, Iasen
24 June - Enio, Ianaki, Biliana, Diliana, Ianita
26 June - David
29 June - Name day of everyone named Peter, Penka, Kamen, Pencho, Peyo, Pesho, Petran/a;
also Assen, Assya, Apostol, Kroum, Chavdar
30 June - Pavlyovden (Saint Paul's Day) - Name day of everyone named Pavel, Pavlina, Polya, Polina, Apostol
01 July - Damian, Damiana
07 July - Nedialka
11 July - Olga
15 July - Vladimir
16 July - Iulia
17 July - Marina, Marin
18 July - Emil, Emilian
20 July - Ilia, Ilko, Iliana, Ilina, Bojana
22 July - Magdalena, Miglena
25 July - Ana, Iana
26 July - Paraskeva
27 July - Pancho
29 July - Kalin
01 August - Zdravko, Zdravka
08 August - Emilia
15 August - Maria, Margarita
20 August - Samuil
26 August - Adrian, Natalia
29 August - Anastas
30 August - Aleksandar, Aleko
03 September - Antim
05 September - Zahari, Elisaveta
14 September - Stavri
16 September - Ludmila
17 September - Sofia, Viara, Nadejda, Lubov
25 September - Sergei
03 October - Dionisii
14 October - Penka, Petko
18 October - Zlata, Zlatka, Zlatko
19 October - Ioan, Ioana
26 October - Dimitar, Mitko, Dimitrina
27 October - Nestor
08 November - Mihail, Rangel, Raina, Raia, Raika, Mihaela, Angel, Milcho
11 November - Mina, Minka, Viktor, Viktoria
14 November - Filip, Filipa, Filio
16 November - Matei
24 November - Ekaterina, Katerina, Katia, Katina, Iasna
26 November - Stilian
30 November - Andrei
01 December - Naum
04 December - Varvara
05 December - Sava, Elisaveta
06 December - Nikola, Nikolai, Nina
09 December - Anna, Anushka, Nusha
12 December - Darina
17 December - Danail, Daniela, Dana
20 December - Ognian, Plamen, Plamena
24 December - Evgenia
25 December - Hristo, Hristina
26 December - Iosif
27 December - Stefan, Conio, Stoicho, Stoimen, Stefka