Is Georgi the Official Name of Goce Delcev?

Abstract

This article deals with the issue of the official name of Goce Delchev. In historiography, the name form Георги [Georgi] dominates as a version of his official name; however, a careful scrutiny of various official documents shows that the form Георги [Georgi] is an institutional creation, which moved into historiography by inertia; Delchev, himself, never used the form Георги [Georgi] when signing official documents or other correspondence. Leaving aside the hypocorism Гоце [Gotse] and the pseudonym Ахил [Ahil / Achilles], as well as the signature Г. Делчев [G. Delchev] out of which the nominal form of his personal name cannot be discerned, we establish that Delchev predominantly used the variant Гйорги [Gjorgi] as his personal name, occasionally the variants Гйоргие [Gjorgie] and Гйорге [Gjorge], but never Георги [Georgi]. Is, then, the form Георги [Georgi] unarguably the official name of Delchev? As no one can convey a personal name more correctly than the bearer himself, we believe that Macedonian historiography ought to use the form Ѓорги [Gjorgi], and not Георги [Georgi] or Ѓорѓи [Gjorgji].