 Among South Slavs, a mountain plant "Iris germanica" is known in folklore as "perunika" ("Perun's plant") and sometimes also as "bogisha", ("god's plant"), and was believed to grow from ground that had been struck by lightning.Also the Serbian surname Peruničić and the Macedonian Перуновски (Perunovski) are derived from Perun.The Bulgarian people believe that the name of city Pernik is thought to have originated from that of Slavic god Perun with the Slavic placename suffix –nik (or –ik) added, and was first mentioned in the 9th century.