Part 2 – Bulgarian names

..and for me as a child, and even now..my last name is the same as my parents..the family name – well, in rural areas in Bulgaria, the family name comes from the grandfather on your father’s side. Think about this for a moment..if that were the case for me, my mom’s family name, and my dad’s family name would each be different, and their family name would be different from my family name..and not only that, if my grandfather’s family name were Yordanov, my family name would have to be Yordanova (because I am female)..

The trend in the cities has moved away from this, and families moving from villages usually officially change to a common family name if they move to a city.

A child’s middle name is always a derivative of their father’s name..even if there is more than one child..For example Ivelina Dimitrova Stanova and Ilian Dimitar Stanov.

..and if you call or shout out to someone, the name also changes..not greatly, but it changes..like Ivan – you would shout Ivane..or for Elena – Eleno, Lubomir – Lubomire.

This last rule about names, I have yet to follow. In Bulgarian there are 2 forms of ‘you’. There is the singular you (ti), and the plural form (vie).

When introduced to someone you should use the polite ‘vie’ form + their family name..and only when you are on a more familiar basis do you change to using the singular ‘ti’ form + their first name. I have a Bulgarian friend that finds it difficult to determine when this point has been reached..

What’s in a name?

You know those nicknames we have for people – like for a woman named Susan, we might call her Susie, or Sue..or Richard my be called Ricky or Rich or Rick. And these nicknames or abbreviated names make sense to me. I can see where the shortened name comes from.

Well..in Bulgaria, names and how you address one another have a very different structure..and it can all get very confusing at times. For example:
- 2 people born in the same year, might address each other as Набори - Nabori (meaning exactly that ‘born in the same year’
- Colleagues working together often refer to each other as колеги – kolegi (colleague)..I guess that is easier than remembering their name.

-- and when speaking with a woman around the age of your mother, she should be addressed as леля – lelya (meaning Aunt)
-- a women around the age of your grandma is addressed as баба – baba (Grandma)

And likewise for men

-- it’s чичо – chicho (uncle) for men approximately your father’s age
-- and Дядо – diyado (grandpa) for men you grandfather’s age

And to show respect to another man (whether he is your age, or older)..I often here batko, or bai+name (for example Stanimir would be called Bye-stan)..kind of like big brother..he always helps and takes care of the hikers in our group that fall behind.

Here is one that really throws me..it is a part of the local dialect in the Veliko Tarnovo region.
- When an older person speaks with a younger person..they refer to them as ‘Ba’
- When speaking with a grandfather, he is also referred to as ‘Ba’
- When a younger person is talking with their mom it is ‘Ma’ (that one makes sense)
- When speaking with morethan 1 person, or to adults they address each other as ‘бе’ (Bay)

Are you confused yet?

If you converse with someone with the same name..you don’t call each other by name..instead you say адаш (adash) – meaning namesake (per the dictionary).

Which is why I usually call people by the name they are introduced with..but somehow, even that gets confusing. Let’s say I get introduced to Georgi. Now that sounds like a simple enough name..however, when other Bulgarians refer to him in conversations, they don’t say Georgi..they say Zhoro, or Gogo (commonly used in the cities), or even Gosho (in the villages)..or..here’s an example for a woman’s name – Boriana might be referred to as Bobi, or Boobka. Here are a few more:

Girls names:
Gergana – Geri Penka – Pepa or Petia Paraskeva – Parka Ginka – Galya
Boys names:
Dimitar – Mitko or Mitak Nikolai - Koilyo Valentin – Vaiylyo Yoran – Dancho

Did you notice girls names always in in ‘a’ and boys names only end in a consonant or ‘o’ or ‘I’.

Next week, I’ll explain about middle and last names..almost as confusing as first names :)

This week, I did a radio announcement with two students from the 10th grade about the International Day of European languages..and we asked the announcer to play a few songs in other languages..One of the songs she chose for Bulgaria is the one I have posted above – Detski Spomen (press the play button in the upper left corner).

New Song posted

The newest song posted above (press the play button in the box in the upper left corner - it says Rofinka Bolna Legnala), is a song from the Rhodope's, in the mountains, one of the many diverse regions on Bulgaria. When I visited there a while back with my hiking group, one evening we were lucky to be entertained by the owner and a colleague..one played a homemade guida (bagpipes), and the other sang..and 2 of our women hikers joined in as well..it was quite beautiful to listen to. This music is very different probably from what you have listened to..but I would suggest closing your eyes, and just listening a bit to it.

little delights in life

Living in Bulgaria has really made me a more avid hiker..but sometimes it is nice to visit and hang out with the friends in my town..all sorts of interesting surprises pop up. I visited Geno last weekend..he is pictured below.

Geno is proud to say he was my oldest English student at 81 years of age. He invited me for lunch. Geno is the ideal type of person I can see running a ‘kushta na gosti’ – these are houses where tourists are invited to live and help out to see a typical Bulgarian way of life. Every time I visit, I learn something new. My last visit was spent picking strawberries and eating mulberries, and bringing up water from the well (much harder than it looked)..this time, we picked grapes – there are so many different types of grapes, all tasting different and ripening at different times. With the grapes, we made freshly squeezed grape-juice (see the picture below).

Yep..dig your hands in and squeeze; and then strained it and had it for desert later. We also started a fire in a little fire well, and roasted peppers..also a new experience for me (the peppers start hopping when the bottom gets really hot from the fire).

After biking back from the village, I headed up to our local monastery where the Horo (Bulgarian dances) group was meeting to celebrate our 2nd anniversary of the group (I swear we celebrated this in the winter already)..but it was a great time..we had a barbecue – slightly different than an American one – no hamburgers, but there were Kranviches (which are like our hotdogs), and lots of sausage type meat (called sudjuk and nadenitsa), no ketchup, but jars of Lyutenitsa (a tomatoey vegetabley substance)..everything tastes fantastic grilled outside. I have noticed recently more initiative being made by members of the group..this time, besides dancing, one of the members organized a couple of games with prizes first..I can’t remember my last gunny sack race..I was happy that I understood most of the trivia questions (in Bulgarian)..even if I couldn’t answer them..and I enjoyed watching the Ruchenitsa couples contest (a traditional Bulgarian dance) – it’s a fun dance to watch, but the timing proves hard for me to pick up. Here's a video I found online - As always..I have posted a few new pictures, from the first day of school, the banquet for the first day of school, and lunch with Geno. You will find these by scrolling to the end of the page, and clicking on Tricia's Newest Pics

Da, ami Ne, ami Ohee

This last weekend was Labor Day in the US, but here in Bulgaria, it was a different holiday we celebrated - the day Southern Bulgaria was re-unified with Bulgaria..(..it was originally separated after the Treaty of Berlin). To celebrate the long weekend, my favorite hiking group, Trapezitsa, and I visited for a few days the small remote island of Samothraki in the Northern Aegean Sea. In Samothraki there are few hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, and touristy places selling souvenirs..which is exactly why I liked it so much..that and swimming and snorkeling in the Aegean Sea, with sparkling clear water (I saw 2 small octopuses, and lots of colorful fish); and visited the Sanctuary of the Gods (ancient Hellenistic ruins uncovered) the statue of the goddess of Victory (also known as Nike) was originally found here, but is now shown in the Louvre museum in Paris; and hiked Mt. Fengari (said to be ‘where Poseidon sat up to watch the Trojan war…”). You can see around the entire island from the its peak. The hike up Fengari was difficult..really..we started out at 6:30 am and it was pretty much four hours of going straight up the mountain..which wasn’t bad while we were in the trees and shrubs..but once we got through that, we were scrambling over boulders and trying to keep our balance on large and small sliding rocks. Actually, the wife of the hiking clubs President, Netka (who is a really good hiker) had a bad tumble when we were having lunch at the summit..she ended up needing stitches. It did however, answer one of my questions – Is there a designated First-aid kit brought on our hikes..the answer is No..and I felt double bad; when I went to look for mine, I realized that the one time I actually needed it, I forgot to pack it. Fortunately there were two hikers that had brought band-aids. We saw so many other interesting sites as well, that you can see with descriptions in my pictures. Samothraki is high on my list for returning to one day..as fun and adventurous as our days were..there’s still so much more I want to see and do there. They have snorkeling, scuba diving, boat trips (to access other parts of the island), hiking, waterfalls, natural hot mineral springs. And, to make things a little more confusing for me while there: Da = yes in Bulgarian Ne = no in Bulgarian Ne = yes in Greece Ohee = No in Greece