List of Bulgaria province name etymologies

! County name

! Language of origin

! First attested

! Meaning

! Cognates

| Slavic

| 1950{{cite web |url=http://www.blagoevgrad.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=26&Itemid=54 |title=За града |publisher=Blagoevgrad.org |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080602055922/http://www.blagoevgrad.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=26&Itemid=54 |archive-date = 2008-06-02}}

| Named after the city of Blagoevgrad, itself a recent construct from Blagoev + the Slavic suffix Grad (toponymy)

|Numerous place names with the Slavic component grad

| Latin

| Antiquity, current form - 1727{{cite web |url=http://www2.burglib.org/modules/news/print.php?storyid=42 |title=Град Бургас |publisher=Регионална библиотека "П. К. Яворов" |access-date=2008-09-14 |language=bg}}

| Named after the city of Burgas, from the Latin word burgus, meaning a "tower, fort", after a local ancient Roman travel post.{{cite web|url=http://www.burgas.bg/en/info/index/91|title=Burgas Municipality|publisher=Burgas}}{{cite web |url=http://www.inyourpocket.com/Burgas/History |publisher=In Your Pocket |title=History of Burgas}}

| Burgos, Lüleburgaz, Kumburgaz, Yarımburgaz, Kemerburgaz

| Slavic

| 1882{{cite book |title=Истинската история на България |last=Петрински |first=Иван |year=2008 |publisher=Ciela |isbn=978-954-28-0286-0 |location=София |language=bg |chapter =Българският език: възродителен процес за имената на месеците |pages=163 }}

| Named after the city of Dobrich, after the 14th-century Dobrujan ruler Dobrotitsa, from the Slavic root dobr, "good"[http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=%2Fusr%2Flocal%2Fshare%2Fstarling%2Fmorpho&morpho=0&basename=\usr\local\share\starling\morpho\vasmer\vasmer&first=1&text_word=%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D1%8B%D0%B9&method_word=substring&text_general=&method_general=substring&text_origin=&method_origin=substring&text_trubachev=&method_trubachev=substring&text_editorial=&method_editorial=substring&text_pages=&method_pages=substring&text_any=&method_any=substring&sort=word Vasmer query]

|

| Slavic

| 1430{{cite web |url=http://bg.zonebulgaria.com/centralna_severna/gabrovo/istoria/ |title=История на Габрово |publisher=Zone Bulgaria |access-date=2008-09-14 |language=bg }}

| Named after the city of Gabrovo, probably from the Slavic word gabar ("hornbeam") + the Slavic suffix -ovo

| Grabow

| Arabic, Turkish and Slavic

| 15th century{{cite web |url=http://haskovo-online.com/content/view/6/3/lang,bg/ |title=Името Хасково |language=bg |publisher=Haskovo Online |access-date=2008-09-14 }}

| Named after the city of Haskovo, from Arabic خَاصّ, Turkish has ("special") + the Turkish köy ("village") + the Slavic suffix -ovoSahin, İlhan. [https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/haskoy--bulgaristan Hasköy (TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi)]. 1997.

| Numerous places in Turkey bearing the name "Hasköy"

| Turkish and Arabic

| Ottoman rule

| Named after the city of Kardzhali, after the 14th-century Turkish conqueror Kırca Ali,{{cite web |url=http://www.kardjali.bg/?pid=6,10 |title=Как е получил град Кърджали името си? |language=bg |publisher=Община Кърджали |access-date=2008-09-14 }} from the Turkish name Kirca and the Arabic name Ali, derived from an Arabic root which means "high" or "Elevated".

|

| Latin and Turkish

| 1559{{cite book |title=Югозападните български земи през XIV век |chapter=Феодални княжества и владетели през последните десетилетия на XIV век |chapter-url=http://www.promacedonia.org/hm2/hm_3_3.html |last=Матанов |first=Христо |pages=126 |language=bg |year=1986 |publisher =Наука и изкуство |location=София |url=http://www.promacedonia.org/hm2/index.html }}

| Named after the city of Kyustendil, from Kösten, the Turkified name of the 14th-century local feudal Constantine Dragaš, from Latin constans, "steadfast" + the Turkish il "shire, county"

| Constanţa (Köstence)

| Slavic

| mid-11th century{{cite web |url=http://www.lovech.bg/Read.php?id=11 |title=История |publisher=Община Ловеч |access-date=2008-09-14 |language=bg }} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}

| Named after the city of Lovech, possibly from the Slavic root lov, "hunting" + the Slavic suffix -ech

| Łowicz

| Latin

| Antiquity

| Named after the city of the same name, formerly called Mihailovgrad, and renamed in 1993 after the nearby ancient Roman city of Municipio Montanensium, from Latin mons, "mountain".

| Montana

| Persian, Turkic

| Ottoman rule

| Named after the city of Pazardzhik, from pazar, the Turkified word of the Persian bāzār, "market" + the Turkic diminutive suffix -cık, "small"

| Novi Pazar

| Slavic

| 12th century{{cite web |url=http://pernik.bg/history.htm |title=История на средновековната крепост по археологични данни |language=bg |publisher=Община Перник |access-date=2008-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916181408/http://pernik.bg/history.htm |archive-date=2008-09-16 |url-status=dead }}

| Named after the city of Pernik, probably from the name of the Slavic god Perun + the Slavic suffix -nik or -ik or from a local boyar named Perin.{{Cite web|url=http://gradski.org/archives/46163|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023030316/http://gradski.org/archives/46163|url-status=usurped|archive-date=October 23, 2014|title=Събраха в книга всичко за името на Перник|date=21 October 2014}}

|

| Slavic

| Hungarian charter of 1270{{cite web |url=http://www.pleven.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=34 |title=История на Плевен |publisher=Община Плевен |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 }}

| Named after the city of Pleven, from the Slavic root plev ("weed") + the Slavic suffix or ending -en

| Pljevlja

| Thracian, possibly Slavic and Greek

| 15th century{{cite web |url=http://www.omda.bg/studentski_forum/2007-2008/margarita_varimez_tepeta.htm |title=Тепетата на Пловдив |publisher=omda.bg |language=bg |access-date=2009-01-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627010013/http://www.omda.bg/studentski_forum/2007-2008/margarita_varimez_tepeta.htm |archive-date=2008-06-27 |url-status=dead }}

| Named after the city of Plovdiv, a Slavicized variant of the earlier Thracian name Pulpudeva, from Thracian deva "city" and Thracian puplpu, which can mean "lake." Or it may be the Thracian form of the Greek name Philip "horselover", after Philip II, possibly including the Slavic suffix ov in the middle as the suffixes for family names.{{Cite web|url=http://www.desant.net/show-news/32250/|title = Двадесет и четирите имена на древния Пловдив}}{{cite web |url=http://www.milarodino.com/bg/13_centuries/city/plovdiv/ |title=Пловдив |publisher=Мила Родино |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120904074310/http://www.milarodino.com/bg/13_centuries/city/plovdiv/ |archive-date=2012-09-04 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://old.plovdiv.bg/istoriq_grad.htm |title=История на града |publisher=Община Пловдив |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928115212/http://old.plovdiv.bg/istoriq_grad.htm |archive-date=2008-09-28 }} In earlier times in Western Europe and elsewhere it was known as Philipopolis, so named by Philip II of Macedon after he conquered it in the 4th century BCE.Philippopolis (Thracia){{Circular reference|date=November 2017}}

|

| Persian and Slavic

| 1573{{cite book|chapter-url=http://liternet.bg/publish/akaloianov/stb/hyrs.htm|last=Калоянов|first=Анчо|title=Старобългарското езичество|publisher=ЕИ "LiterNet"|location=Варна|year=2002|chapter=Названието на етнографската група хърцои и култа към бог Хърс|isbn=954-304-009-5|url=http://liternet.bg/publish/akaloianov/stb/index.html|language=bg}}

| Named after the city of Razgrad, probably from the Slavic god Hors, whose name comes from the Persian xoršid, or alternatively from the Persian word hezar "thousand", or from Arabic hissar "fortress". + the Slavic suffix Grad (toponymy)

| Hârşova [http://liternet.bg/publish/akaloianov/stb/hyrs.htm]

| unknown

| 1380s{{cite web|url=http://www.museumruse.com/rusehistory/rusename_bg.htm |title=История на Русе |publisher=Регионален исторически музей{{mdash}}Русе |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610180850/http://www.museumruse.com/rusehistory/rusename_bg.htm |archive-date=2008-06-10 |url-status=dead }}

| Named after the city of Rousse (more accurately Ruse), probably from the root *ru- ("river", "stream") or *h₁reudʰ-ó- ("red" or "blonde"). Other suggestions include Russian settlement, a derivation from Russocastrom, an unattested tribe of Getae (riusi) or the pagan practice of Rusalii

|

| Hebrew or Slavic

| 12th century{{cite web |url=http://www.xn--e1anevy.net/ |title=Шумен |publisher=Шумен.net |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013115526/http://www.xn--e1anevy.net/ |archive-date=2008-10-13 |url-status=dead }}

| Named after the city of Shumen, either from the Slavic word shuma ("forest" or "verdure") + the Slavic suffix or ending -en or from Simeonis, after Simeon I of Bulgaria (itself from Hebrew Shim'on, "harkening", "listening")

| Šumadija? Šumava?

| Daco-Thracian or Latin

| early 13th century{{cite web|url=http://theo.inrne.bas.bg/~dtrif/abv/BG_ABV_ru.HTM |script-title=ru:Болгарские алфавиты |language=ru |access-date=2008-09-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211212444/http://theo.inrne.bas.bg/~dtrif/abv/BG_ABV_ru.HTM |archive-date=December 11, 2007 }}

| Named after the city of Silistra (old name Drastar, from Celtic Durostorum), possibly from the Ancient Greek name of the Danube, Istrus, itself borrowed from Thracian.{{cite book |last=Katičić |first=Radislav |title=Ancient Languages of the Balkans, Part One |location=Paris |publisher=Mouton |year=1976 |pages=144 }} or from the Latin words "silo" and "stra", "awl" and "strategy".

|

| Slavic

| 17th century{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}}

| Named after the city of Sliven, from the Slavic word sliv ("pour, confluence") + the Slavic suffix or ending -en{{cite web |url=http://sliven.gvardia.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=221&Itemid=80 |title=За Сливен |publisher=БНС – Сливен |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928233719/http://sliven.gvardia.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=221&Itemid=80 |archive-date=2008-09-28 }}

|

| Slavic

| after 1878{{cite web |url=http://www.bgglobe.net/index.php?l=0&s=-286 |title=гр. Смолян |publisher=BGGLOBE |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 }}

| Named after the city of Smolyan, itself after the local Slavic tribe of the Smolyani, probably cognate to the Slavic word smola ("resin")

| Smolany, Smolany Dąb, Smolany Sadek, Smolensk, etc.

| Greek

| From Greek Sophia ("wisdom"), after the Saint Sofia Church{{cite web |url=http://www.milarodino.com/bg/13_centuries/city/sofia_city/ |title=София |publisher=Мила Родино |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219041530/http://www.milarodino.com/bg/13_centuries/city/sofia_city/ |archive-date=2007-12-19 |url-status=dead }}

| Sophia

| see above

| see above

| Named after the city of Sofia, see above

| see above

| Slavic

| Middle Ages(region){{cite web |url=http://www.vereya.com/objects.php?cid=1001&lang=bg |title=Стара Загора |publisher=Верея Тур |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070117143114/http://www.vereya.com/objects.php?lang=bg&cid=1001 |archive-date=2007-01-17 |url-status=dead }}

| Named after the city of Stara Zagora, from the Slavic root star ("old") and the name of the medieval region of Zagore ("beyond the [Balkan] mountains" in Slavic)

| Nova Zagora, Zagora, Zagori, Zagorje, Záhorie, Zagorsk

| Slavic translation of Turkish

| 1934{{cite web |url=http://www.bulgariainside.com/bg/articles/%D0%A2%D1%8A%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%89%D0%B5/114/index.html |title=Търговище |publisher=Bulgaria Inside |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 }}

| Named after the city of Targovishte, from the Slavic root targ ("marketplace") + the Slavic placename suffix -ishte, "market town" (a calque of the Ottoman Turkish Eski Cuma, "old market")

| Târgoviște, Trgovište

| Unknown, possibly

(1) Proto-Slavic, or

(2) Proto-Indo-European (PIE), or

(3) Iranian

| Theophanes Confessor (8th century){{cite web|url=http://varna.info.bg/name_of_varna.htm |title=Имената на днешната Варна |publisher=Varna.Info.bg |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928182700/http://varna.info.bg/name_of_varna.htm |archive-date=2008-09-28 }}

(4) Varangians

| Named after the city of Varna,

(1) possible Proto-Slavic etymology: varn ("black"), non-metathesized group CorC, later vran; or from Bulgarian var ("lime"),

(2) possible PIE etymology: PIE root we-r- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090124172602/http://bartleby.com/61/roots/IE575.html (water)]; cognate: Varuna

(3) possible Iranian etymology: var ("camp", "fortress")

| (1) Warnow/Warnemünde, Varniai, Vranje?

(2) Varanasi?

(3) Varosha, Hungarian Vár?

| Slavic and possibly Latin

| 1180s{{cite web |url=http://discoverybg.muffty.org/txt/tarnovo.txt |title=Търново{{mdash}}политически, религиозен и културен център на Второто българско царство |publisher=DiscoveryBG |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517033441/http://discoverybg.muffty.org/txt/tarnovo.txt |archive-date=2008-05-17 |url-status=dead }}

| Named after the city of Veliko Tarnovo, from the Slavic root velik ("great") and the root tarn ("thorn") or from Latin turis ("tower") or tres naves ("three ships", referring to the three hills) + the Slavic suffix -ovo{{cite web |url=http://www.veliko-tarnovo.net/?page=aboutvt&about=history |title=История |publisher=Официален сайт на Велико Търново |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 }}

| Tarnów, Trnava, Tyrnavos

| Celtic

| Antiquity or Middle Ages, current form since 1570{{cite web |url=http://www.kgp.hit.bg/VIDIN.htm |title=Видин |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129234122/http://kgp.hit.bg/VIDIN.htm |archive-date=2009-01-29 |url-status=dead }}

| Named after the city of Vidin, from the ancient Celtic{{cite web |url=http://www.bg-tourinfo.com/vidin.htm |title=Видин |publisher=BG-Tourinfo |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 }} name Dononia, "fortified hill", through Roman Bononia and finally Bulgarian Bdin, Badin. The name is most likely derived from the Slavic word for viewpoint Vidik which creates a parallel with Dononia for a fortified hill.

| Bologna

| Slavic

| 16th century{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}}

| Named after the city of Vratsa, named after the Vratitsa Pass nearby, from the Slavic word vrata ("gate") + the Slavic diminutive placename suffix -itsa, "little gate".{{cite web |url=http://www.purebulgaria.com/bg_version/cities.php?city_id=27 |title=Враца{{mdash}} кратка справка |publisher=PureBulgaria |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 }}

| Vrata, Mehedinţi

| Greek and possibly Latin

| Ottoman rule(current form){{cite web |url=http://yambol.government.bg/turisam.htm |title=Туризъм |publisher=Област Ямбол |language=bg |access-date=2008-09-14 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080611080806/http://yambol.government.bg/turisam.htm |archive-date = 2008-06-11}}

| Named after the city of Yambol, from Diambouli, from Di after Diocletian or Dios (Zeus) + the Greek polis "city"

|