Bulkheyir is a village in the Echmiadzin uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Abaran district, and currently in the Aragatsotn province. The provincial centre lies 14 km to the north of the town of Ashtarak, on the right branch of the Abaran River, at the foot of Alagoz Mountain and at a height of 1,875 m above sea level. It was marked as “Bulkheyir” in “The Iravan Province Comprehensive Data Book” compiled in 1590, as “Abulkheyir” in “The Iravan Province Review Book” compiled in 1728, as “Blkher” on the five-verst map of the Caucasus. In their works the Armenian authors indicate the name of the village as “Plkher”, “Bulkhayir”.

The ethnonym “Bulkher” was formed by adding the word “er” used in Turkish as “brave” to the ethnonym “Bulkhi”. “Bulkher” is a phonetic variant of the ethnonym “Bulgar”. The toponym was coined from the ethnonym “Bulkher”.

The village was initially inhabited by Azerbaijanis who moved to Türkiye following the settlement of Armenians in this region. The village was renamed “Shenavan” by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 19 April 1950. According to the law “On the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia” dated 7 November 1995, it was integrated into the administrative territory of Aragatsotn province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude: 40°28′ N., longitude: 44°22′ E.