Vanga was born in 1911 to Pando Surchev (7 May 1873 – 8 November 1940) and Paraskeva Surcheva in Strumica of the Ottoman Empire before the city was ceded to Bulgaria in 1912. She was a premature baby who suffered from health complications. In accordance with local tradition, the baby was not given a name until it was deemed likely to survive. When the baby first cried out, a midwife went into the street and asked a stranger for a name. The stranger proposed "Andromaha" (Andromache), but this was rejected for being "too Greek" during a period of anti-Hellenic sentiment within Macedonian Bulgarian society. Another stranger's proposal was a Greek name, but since she was Bulgarian: "Vangelia" (from Evangelos).