Bulgaria, Civil Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Record
България, гражданските регистри

Record Description
This collection contains images and some index entries of civil registers containing births, marriages, and deaths for the districts of Sofia and Pazardzhik from 1839-1912. Acquired from the Bulgaria Agency State Archives.

The Ottoman Empire controlled Bulgaria from the 14th century to 1878. The Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) helped to liberate Bulgaria. The Russians put in power a minor German prince, but the country from then on remained independent. Because of its location, Bulgaria's language takes from Serbian, Russian, and other Eastern European languages. They use the Russian alphabet.

Record Content
Birth records may include:


 * Date and time of birth
 * Name of newborn and parents
 * Occupation and religious preference of parents
 * Name of informant

Marriage records may include:


 * Date of marriage
 * Parents’ names
 * Name of witnesses
 * Residence of the bride and groom

Death records may include:


 * Date of death
 * Residence at the time of death
 * Age at death
 * Cause of death
 * Burial place

How to Use the Record
When searching: As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor's given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence, age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

Search the Collection
To search by index: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

For Help Reading These Records
These records are in Bulgarian. It is a southern Slavic tongue and is written in the Cyrillic script.For help with reading the records, see the following resources:


 * Rootsweb Bulgarian Alphabet
 * Bulgarian Dictionary

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * Use the estimated age to calculate a birth date.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Titles may be clues to property ownership, occupations, rank, or status within the community.
 * Check for variant spellings of the names.
 * Look for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. In addition local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.

Related Websites

 * Archives State Agency
 * The Federation of East European Family History Societies, Bulgaria-Romania Map 1882

Related Wiki Articles

 * Bulgaria
 * Bulgaria Vital Records Index (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Bulgaria Civil Registration

Citations for this Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually. Collection Citation:

Record Citation:

Image Citation: