Maremagnum
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Time to resurrect the off-topic thread with a catchy tune (with English lyric-subs, for your convenience), including an evil traitor and a little brother present in our mod (and naturally, since it's me, they're Bulgarians, of course). 
Also, Romanians (if there are any here) might be interested to know the guy is currently making cool videos there as well.
Also, Romanians (if there are any here) might be interested to know the guy is currently making cool videos there as well. 
Black_Scythe
Knight
Haha, that's nice
Did they always change names when accessing the throne? Why the names? Why Peter? There's no Bulgarian tradition of Peter as a royal name. I find it weird. Kalojan has an understandable name from a Byzantine Imperial perspective. But there's no Emperor Peter that I'm aware of (it would be cool, though). Any insight on that?
As for strange names that make one's rule awesome, since I am somehow big on onomastics (onomastics and heraldry geekery is one of the geekest forms of weird), I've seen over the years that awesome people usually will try and make themselves stand out with awesome names, especially back when names were all people would hear of a ruler, if at all.
Examples include:
Pope Francis, who got himself a very unusual name in order to mark a very unusual papacy. A name, Francis, that didn't even exist before St Francis himself made it popular by adopting the name everybody called him (Frenchie, basically).
Kaloyan himself, his name being a nickname and the name he's offically known for is also awesome.
Napoleon. I mean, Napoleon! Strange Lombard name out of Early Medieval mysts turned into the epytome of military prowess, empire-building from scratch, self-glorification beyond measure and patron of both liberalism and tyranny. Napoleon! He even got the letter N to mean Napoleon for at least a century!
Emperor Alexander, the "last Pagan Byzantine Emperor", also probably not Pagan, but he was so reviled that he must have done something truly... remarkable.
The two almost King Arthurs in English history, first the nephew of King Richard the Lionheart, who was captured and allegedly murdered by King John Lackland, and the second, Henry VIII oldest brother. I'm still waiting for William to change his son's name to Arthur...
King Martin the Human. While his name was odd for Medieval royal Aragonese standards, his nickname is even weirder. It originally referred to his humanistic-ness and his goody nature. He had a son who was also named Martin, the Young, but died before Martin the Elder, so there was never a Martin II of Aragon.
King Francis of France. Granted, he was never considered remotely elegible for the French crown as a child, being the son of a nephew of a cousin or some such "many times removed" parentage with the then-king, that's why his name was not Louis (let's all remember that Louis XIV, the Sun King, named his son Louis and this Louis named three of his sons Louis in a row, after they all died as babies one after the other. There must always be a Louis in the French throne! That's why Francis being just Francis is kind of awesome. Also, Francis means Frenchie, so double points.
Jagiello. Yes, he changed his name to Wladislaw, much more conventional, but his name became also the stuff of legends. Jagiello, Jogaila, Iagellon, whatever the version.
As for strange names that make one's rule awesome, since I am somehow big on onomastics (onomastics and heraldry geekery is one of the geekest forms of weird), I've seen over the years that awesome people usually will try and make themselves stand out with awesome names, especially back when names were all people would hear of a ruler, if at all.
Examples include:
Pope Francis, who got himself a very unusual name in order to mark a very unusual papacy. A name, Francis, that didn't even exist before St Francis himself made it popular by adopting the name everybody called him (Frenchie, basically).
Kaloyan himself, his name being a nickname and the name he's offically known for is also awesome.
Napoleon. I mean, Napoleon! Strange Lombard name out of Early Medieval mysts turned into the epytome of military prowess, empire-building from scratch, self-glorification beyond measure and patron of both liberalism and tyranny. Napoleon! He even got the letter N to mean Napoleon for at least a century!
Emperor Alexander, the "last Pagan Byzantine Emperor", also probably not Pagan, but he was so reviled that he must have done something truly... remarkable.
The two almost King Arthurs in English history, first the nephew of King Richard the Lionheart, who was captured and allegedly murdered by King John Lackland, and the second, Henry VIII oldest brother. I'm still waiting for William to change his son's name to Arthur...
King Martin the Human. While his name was odd for Medieval royal Aragonese standards, his nickname is even weirder. It originally referred to his humanistic-ness and his goody nature. He had a son who was also named Martin, the Young, but died before Martin the Elder, so there was never a Martin II of Aragon.
King Francis of France. Granted, he was never considered remotely elegible for the French crown as a child, being the son of a nephew of a cousin or some such "many times removed" parentage with the then-king, that's why his name was not Louis (let's all remember that Louis XIV, the Sun King, named his son Louis and this Louis named three of his sons Louis in a row, after they all died as babies one after the other. There must always be a Louis in the French throne! That's why Francis being just Francis is kind of awesome. Also, Francis means Frenchie, so double points.
Jagiello. Yes, he changed his name to Wladislaw, much more conventional, but his name became also the stuff of legends. Jagiello, Jogaila, Iagellon, whatever the version.
Well, it's a somewhat peculiar case. All three of those brothers have some name issues - as you said, Kaloyan is actually Ioanitsa (Little John, just like his cousin Ivanko), Asen probably also wore the name Ioan (hence why his son is Ioan Asen II) and Belgun (which might have been a nickname or not), while Teodor became Petar (or in some instances - Slavopetar or Kalopetar).Cèsar de Quart said:
Petar II or Petar IV, depends on which modern university's tradition you're following (the Sofia University tends to name him Petar II, though lately it's been adopting Tarnovo University's version of Petar IV). In any case, he took the name of Tsar Petar I, the first Bulgarian monarch who was undoubtedly recognized as emperor by the Byzantines (whereas the imperial recognition of his father, Simeon the Great, was retracted soon after it). Medieval tradition, especially during the Byzantine rule (1018-1185), claims life in Bulgaria during Petar I's rule was quite easy, probably because of the relative peace (especially compared to his father's reign) and the low taxes (Petar's supposed piety, sponsorship of the church and eventual canonization probably played a role in forming that image as well). That's possibly what led to his name being taken by the three rebel emperors - Petar Delyan (1040, eventually Petar II), Constantine Bodin (1072, eventually Petar III) and finally Theodore (1185, usually considered Petar IV nowadays). Funnily enough, Theodore-Peter was also the last (so far) Tsar Petar of Bulgaria and the following monarchs of the Second Bulgarian Empire started adopting rather the surname Asen and occasionally the name (or name-title) Ioan.
And King Martin the Human? Ok, that's officially the coolest-nicknamed historical person in my list now.