Bulgarian Translation

How Bulgarian names are written in Latin script is not left to judgement: a law passed in 2009 sets the rule. That gives an unexpected clarity to document matching.

4 min readLast updated 2 September 2026

Writing system

Нотариално заверен превод

Notarialno zaveren prevod

A notarised translation

Bulgarian Cyrillic has 30 letters. It differs from Russian: ы, э and ё do not exist in Bulgarian, while ъ is a vowel and appears inside words (България). That letter is the quickest sign that a text is Bulgarian rather than Russian.

Transliteration is set by statute

Bulgaria passed a Transliteration Act in 2009 turning the rendering of Cyrillic into Latin script into a rule of law. That is rare: in most countries transliteration follows a standard but is not legislated.

Some correspondences set by the statute
Cyrillic	Official Latin form	Example
ъ	a	България → Bulgaria
я	ya	Ямбол → Yambol
ю	yu	Юлия → Yuliya
ж	zh	Живков → Zhivkov
ч	ch	Чавдар → Chavdar
ц	ts	Цветан → Tsvetan
щ	sht	Щерев → Shterev

Some correspondences set by the statute

Older documents can still carry different spellings: passports issued before 2009 may follow another system. If your older and newer documents differ in name spelling, send both.

Three-part names and women's surnames

Bulgarian names have three parts: a given name, a patronymic and a surname. The patronymic is formed by adding -ov or -ev to the father's given name, with -a added for women. The surname likewise varies by sex.

The name structure of one family
Person	Given name	Patronymic	Surname
Father (Ivan)	Ivan	Petrov	Dimitrov
Son	Georgi	Ivanov	Dimitrov
Daughter	Maria	Ivanova	Dimitrova
Mother	Elena	Stoyanova	Dimitrova

The name structure of one family

Two things are visible at once: the patronymic changes with each generation (the son's is Ivanov because his father is Ivan), and for women both the patronymic and the surname take -a. Dimitrov and Dimitrova are one surname, not two.

The exception among Slavic languages

Bulgarian is the only Slavic language to have lost its noun cases. Where Russian, Serbian and Ukrainian decline nouns through six or seven cases, that system has dissolved in Bulgarian. In return it has something the others lack: a definite article suffixed to the end of the word.

Bulgarian against other Slavic languages
Feature	Bulgarian	Russian / Serbian
Noun declension	None	Yes (6–7 cases)
Definite article	Yes, suffixed (градът)	None
Infinitive	None	Yes
Number of verb tenses	Rich	Fewer

Bulgarian against other Slavic languages

The consequence for translation is that someone who knows Russian can partly decipher a Bulgarian text but stalls on the suffixed articles and the rich tense system. And a translator without a Bulgarian oath record cannot sign an official document.

letters in Bulgarian Cyrillic: 30letters in Bulgarian Cyrillic
the Transliteration Act: 2009the Transliteration Act
in the official name structure: 3 partsin the official name structure

Bulgarian documents and how we render them

Frequently seen documents
Document	What it is	Our approach
Удостоверение за раждане	Birth certificate	Its scope differs from a Turkish civil registry extract
Свидетелство за съдимост	Criminal record certificate	Its validity is limited in time, so the date is highlighted
Диплома за средно образование	Secondary school diploma	Matriculation results may be on a separate document
Академична справка	Academic transcript	Grades run 2 to 6, with 6 the highest
ЕГН	Personal identification number	Encodes the date of birth; carried across as it stands

Frequently seen documents

Frequently asked questions

Can a translator who knows Russian handle my Bulgarian document?

Not for an official procedure. The two share the Cyrillic script but their letter inventories differ, and Bulgarian grammar departs markedly from Russian. A sworn translation requires a Bulgarian oath record.

My name has three parts. How will it be registered in Türkiye?

The translation marks explicitly which element is the given name, which the patronymic and which the surname, and the civil registry office builds the record from that. Send the identity page of your passport as well.

My mother's surname is Dimitrova and my father's Dimitrov. Are they different surnames?

No, it is the female form of one surname. Bulgarian surnames take an ending according to the bearer's sex. We state this explicitly in the translation; otherwise a family document appears to show two surnames.

Is an apostille enough for a document going to Bulgaria?

Yes. Bulgaria is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so sworn translation, notarisation and an apostille are valid; consular legalisation is not required.

Is a 5 on my transcript a low grade?

No. The Bulgarian scale runs 2 to 6 with 6 the highest and 3 the pass mark, so 5 is a good grade. We state the scale explicitly, because the figure alone is easily misread.