According to preliminary figures of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) released on Tuesday, Georgi and Maria continued to be most common Bulgarian names in 2015.

At the end of 2015, there were nearly 69 000 different personal names of people permanently residing in Bulgaria.

The variety of names continued to be greater among women than men, with the former bearing nearly 39 000 different names, while the latter had slightly over 30 000.

Although, their number declined compared to last year, the three most common male names continued to be Georgi (169 000 Bulgarians bearing the name), Ivan (161 000) and Dimitar (125 000).

These were followed by Nikolay (94 000), Petar (75 000), Hristo (61 000) as well as Aleksandar, Stefan, Yordan and Vasil.

Out of all Bulgarian men, a total of 1 314 000 or 37.6 % had the twenty most common names.

The most common male names among Muslims were Mehmed (16 000), Ahmed (13 000) and Mustafa (12 000).

Among Bulgarian women, slightly over 708 000 or 19.2 % had the twenty most common names.

The most common female name continued to be Maria with 118 000 Bulgarian women bearing it.

The next most common female names were Ivanka (62 000), Elena (54 000), Yordanka (40 000), Penka (32 000), Daniela (30 000).

Among the top ten most common female names were also Rositsa, Desislava, Petya and Mariyka.

The most common female names among Muslims were Fatme (17 000), Ayshe (15 000) and Emine (9000).

The trend for greater diversity among female names was also sustained among newborn children in 2015.

As previously, the most popular names for newborn boys in 2015 were Georgi and Aleksandar, followed by Martin, Dimitar, Ivan, Nikolay, Nikola and Daniel.

However some of the most common male names, such as Yordan, Vasil, Todor, Stoyan and Atanas, were absent from the top twenty names given to newborn boys.

As in previous years, Viktoria continued to be the most popular name given to newborn girls in 2015, followed by Maria and Nikol.

Among the most popular names given to newborn girls were also Aleksandra, Gabriela, Daria, Raya, Yoana, Sofia, Simona and Elena.

The most common Muslim names among newborn boys were Emir and Mert, while Elif and Melek dominated among newborn girls.

The greatest number of Bulgarians celebrate their name day on Palm Sunday, when a total of 382 000 men and women bearing names deriving from flowers celebrate.