Kocherinovo is situated close to the left bank of the Struma River; its southernmost neighbourhood Levski lies at the confluence of the Struma and the Rilska River. The town is located 70 kilometres south of Sofia, 8 kilometres north of Blagoevgrad and 2 kilometres off European route E79 and Struma motorway, on the way to the Rila Monastery.[1] In the 1930s, famous Bulgarian poet Nikola Vaptsarov worked in a Kocherinovo factory near the village of Barakovo as a stoker and a technician.
The town's name stems from the dialectal word kocherina, a derivative of kocher, "pigsty, section of a shed". It is related to the placename Kočerin near Široki Brijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kocherovo near Gotse Delchev. The name was first mentioned in 1878. In 1974, Kocherinovo was proclaimed a town.[2]
^Чолева-Димитрова, Анна М. (2002). Селищни имена от Югозападна България: Изследване. Речник (in Bulgarian). София: Пенсофт. p. 134. ISBN954-642-168-5. OCLC57603720.