The etymology of the name Cherni Vrah (Black Peak) is uncertain. Popularly, it is attributed to the black colour of the conspicuous rock formations dominating the peak's tip. Another belief holds it that the name derived from the darker appearance the peak presumably had in the past, when the Subalpine zone of Vitosha used to be overgrown by mountain pine (Pinus mugo) that was burnt in the Middle Ages to expand sheep pastures. Nowadays only few isolated mountain pine communities have survived in the vicinity of Cherni Vrah, and their process of expansion and recovery is very slow.