The Greek historian Herodotus mentions the city as Siris (Σίρις) in the 5th century BC. Theopompus refers to the city as Sirra (Σίρρα) and later, by the Roman historian Livy, it is mentioned as Sirae, in the plural. Since then the name of the city remains in plural and by the 5th century AD it was already in the conteporary form as Serrae (Σέρραι). It is known as Ser in both Macedonian Slavic and Serbian while in Bulgarian it is known as Syar (Сяр) or Ser (Сер), and before 1945 it was also known as Сѣръ. The Katharevousa form for the name of the city was Sérrai (Σέῤῥαι)....
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