# List of Bulgaria province name etymologies

This is a list of the origins of the names of provinces of Bulgaria.
| County name | Language of origin | First attested | Meaning | Cognates |
| Blagoevgrad Province | Slavic | 1950 | Named after the city of Blagoevgrad, itself a recent construct from Blagoev + the Slavic suffix -grad, "Blagoev's city". Blagoev is from the Bulgarian personal name Blagoy, from blag, "sweet, figuratively- gentle and kind". Named after Bulgarian Socialist Party founder Dimitar Blagoev. | Numerous place names with the Slavic component grad |
| Burgas Province | Latin | Antiquity, current form - 1727 | Named after the city of Burgas, from the Latin word burgus, meaning a "tower, fort", after a local ancient Roman travel post. | Burgos, Lüleburgaz, Kumburgaz, Yarımburgaz, Kemerburgaz |
| Dobrich Province | Slavic | 1882 | Named after the city of Dobrich, after the 14th-century Dobrujan ruler Dobrotitsa, from the Slavic root dobr, "good" | |
| Gabrovo Province | Slavic | 1430 | Named after the city of Gabrovo, probably from the Slavic word gabar ("hornbeam") + the Slavic suffix -ovo | Grabow |
| Haskovo Province | Arabic, Turkish and Slavic | 15th century | Named after the city of Haskovo, from Arabic خَاصّ, Turkish has ("special") + the Turkish köy ("village") + the Slavic suffix -ovo | Numerous places in Turkey bearing the name "Hasköy" |
| Kardzhali Province | Turkish and Arabic | Ottoman rule | Named after the city of Kardzhali, after the 14th-century Turkish conqueror Kırca Ali, from the Turkish name Kirca and the Arabic name Ali, derived from an Arabic root which means "high" or "Elevated". | |
| Kyustendil Province | Latin and Turkish | 1559 | 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) |
| Lovech Province | Slavic | mid-11th century | Named after the city of Lovech, possibly from the Slavic root lov, "hunting" + the Slavic suffix -ech | Łowicz |
| Montana Province | 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 |
| Pazardzhik Province | 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 |
| Pernik Province | Slavic | 12th century | 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. | |
| Pleven Province | Slavic | Hungarian charter of 1270 | Named after the city of Pleven, from the Slavic root plev ("weed") + the Slavic suffix or ending -en | Pljevlja |
| Plovdiv Province | Thracian, possibly Slavic and Greek | 15th century | 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. 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. | |
| Razgrad Province | Persian and Slavic | 1573 | 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. | Hârşova |
| Rousse Province | unknown | 1380s | 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 | |
| Shumen Province | Hebrew or Slavic | 12th century | 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? |
| Silistra Province | Daco-Thracian or Latin | early 13th century | 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. or from the Latin words "silo" and "stra", "awl" and "strategy". | |
| Sliven Province | Slavic | 17th century | Named after the city of Sliven, from the Slavic word sliv ("pour, confluence") + the Slavic suffix or ending -en | |
| Smolyan Province | Slavic | after 1878 | 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. |
| Sofia | Greek | From Greek Sophia ("wisdom"), after the Saint Sofia Church | Sophia |
| Sofia Province | see above | see above | Named after the city of Sofia, see above | see above |
| Stara Zagora Province | Slavic | Middle Ages(region) | 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 |
| Targovishte Province | Slavic translation of Turkish | 1934 | 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 |
| Varna Province | Unknown, possibly (1) Proto-Slavic, or (2) Proto-Indo-European (PIE), or (3) Iranian | Theophanes Confessor (8th century) (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- (water); cognate: Varuna (3) possible Iranian etymology: var ("camp", "fortress") | (1) Warnow/Warnemünde, Varniai, Vranje? (2) Varanasi? (3) Varosha, Hungarian Vár? |
| Veliko Tarnovo Province | Slavic and possibly Latin | 1180s | 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 | Tarnów, Trnava, Tyrnavos |
| Vidin Province | Celtic | Antiquity or Middle Ages, current form since 1570 | Named after the city of Vidin, from the ancient Celtic 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 |
| Vratsa Province | Slavic | 16th century | 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". | Vrata, Mehedinţi |
| Yambol | Greek and possibly Latin | Ottoman rule(current form) | Named after the city of Yambol, from Diambouli, from Di after Diocletian or Dios (Zeus) + the Greek polis "city" | |