Georgi and Maria continue to be the most common personal names among Bulgarians, according to data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI).

At the same time, the most popular baby names are Georgi and Viktoria.

There is greater diversity among women's names, at over 38 000, than men's names, at around 30 000.

In end-2013, the most common names for men were Georgi (173 000, 4.9%), Ivan (168 000, 4.8%), and Dimitar (129 000, 3.6%), followed by Nikolay (95 000), Petar (78 000), Hristo (64 000), and Alexander, Stefan, Yordan, Vasil, etc.

Of all men, around 1 349 thousand have the 20 most common personal names.

The most common Muslim male names are Mehmed (16 000), Ahmed (14 000) and Mustafa (12 000).

As regards women, around 726 00 women, or 19.4%, have the 20 most common names in the country.

A total of 121 000, or 33.3% of all women in Bulgaria, are called Maria. Second place goes to the name of Ivanka, with 65 000 representatives (1.7%), followed by Elena (55 000, 1.5%), and Yordanka (41 000, 1.1%).

Among the 20 most common female names in Bulgaria are Penka, Mariika, Rositsa, Desislava, Petya, Violeta, Gergana, Margarita, Nadezhda, etc.

The most popular Muslim female names in Bulgaria are Fatme (18 000), Ayshe (16 000), and Emine (10 000).

Among the babies born in 2013, the trend toward greater diversity among female names persists (3230 names) compared to male names (2776 names).

The most popular baby boy names are Georgi (1118) and Alexander (1003), followed by Martin (933), Ivan (770), and Dimitar, (672).

Traditional names like Hristo, Yordan, Vasil, Todor and Atanas are absent from the top 20 of baby boy names, according to NSI data, as cited by dnevnik.bg.

The most popular name for a baby girl in 2013 was Viktoria (877), followed by Nikol (843), Maria (729) and Alexandra (524).

The top 20 of baby girl names also includes Gabriela, Raya, Yoana, Sophia, Simona, Elena, etc.

The most common baby names chosen by Muslim parents are Emir (258) and Mert (118) for boys and Elif (105) and Eda (86) for girls.

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