Given names of Soviet origin appeared in the early history of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Richard Stites Richard Stites (December 2, 1931 – March 7, 2010) was a historian of Russian culture and professor of history at Georgetown University, famed for "landmark work on the Russian women’s movement and in numerous articles and books on Russian and ...

, ''Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution''
p. 111
/ref> coinciding with the period of intensive

word formation In linguistics, word formation is an ambiguous term that can refer to either: * the processes through which words can change (i.e. morphology), or * the creation of new lexemes in a particular language Morphological A common method of word form ...

, both being part of the so-called "revolutionary transformation of the society" with the corresponding fashion of

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

s and

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

s,Valeri Mokiyenko, "Толковый словарь языка Совдепии" ("

Explanatory Dictionary An explanatory dictionary or defining dictionary is a dictionary that provides definitions of word meanings at its entries. It may give additional information on pronunciation, grammar, etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin an ...

of Sovdepiya"), St.Petersburg, Фолио-Пресс, 1998, . which

characterized as a

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

n vision of creating a new reality by means of verbal imagery. They constituted a notable part of the new

Soviet phraseology Soviet phraseology, or Sovietisms, i.e. the neologisms and cliches in the Russian language of the epoch of the Soviet Union, has a number of distinct traits that reflect the Soviet way of life and Soviet culture and politics. Most of these disti ...

. Such names may be primarily found in Russian persons,Петровский, Н. А. "Словарь русских личных имён", Moscow, АСТ, 2000, . and sometimes in Belarusians and Ukrainians, as well as in other minorities of the former USSR (e.g.

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

History

The proliferation of the new names was enhanced by the propagation of a short-lived "new Soviet rite" of Octobering, in replacement of the religious tradition of child baptism in the state with the official dogma of

Marxist–Leninist atheism Marxist–Leninist atheism, also known as Marxist–Leninist scientific atheism, is the antireligious element of Marxism–Leninism. Based on a dialectical-materialist understanding of humanity's place in nature, Marxist–Leninist atheism propos ...

.Daniel Peris, ''Storming the Heavens: The Soviet League of the Militant Godless''
p. 92
/ref> In defiance of the old tradition of taking names from

menology A menologium (, pl. menologia), also known by other names, is any collection of information arranged according to the days of a month, usually a set of such collections for all the months of the year. In particular, it is used for ancient Roman ...

, according to the

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

s, many names were taken from nature having patriotic, revolutionary, or progressive connotation: Beryoza (Берёза, "

birch tree A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 to ...

", a proverbial Russian tree), Gvozdika (Гвоздика, "

carnation ''Dianthus caryophyllus'' ( ), commonly known as carnation or clove pink, is a species of ''Dianthus'' native to the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean region. Its exact natural range is uncertain due to extensive cultivation over the last 2,00 ...

", a revolutionary flower), Granit (Гранит, "

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

", a symbol of power), Radiy (Радий, "

radium Radium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in alkaline earth metal, group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, ...

", a symbol of scientific progress). A peculiarity of the new naming was neologisms based on the revolutionary phraseology of the day, such as ''Oktyabrin/Oktyabrina'', to commemorate the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, ''Vladlen'' for

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

. Richard Stites classifies the Soviet "revolutionary" names into the following categories:Елена Душечкина
Мессианские тенденции в советской антропонимической практике 1920-х - 1930-х годов
''Toronto Slavic Quarterly'', no. 62, Fall 2017 *Revolutionary heroes (their first names, their last names used as first names and various acronyms thereof) *Revolutionary concepts (exact terms and various acronyms) *Industrial, scientific, and technical imagery *Culture, myth, nature, place names Most of these names were short-lived linguistic curiosities, but some of them fit well into the framework of the language, proliferated and survived for a long time.

Common new names

The following names were quite common and may be found in various antroponymic dictionaries.

People with Soviet names

*: Баррикад, from "

barricade Barricade (from the French ''barrique'' - 'barrel') is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic in the desired direction. Adopted as a military term, a barricade denotes ...

" *

Elmira (name) Elmira, Elmyra is a given name. Notable persons with the name include: * Elmira Abdrazakova (born 1994), Russian beauty pageant titleholder * Elmira Alembekova (born 1990), Russian racewalker * Elmira Antommarchi, Colombian poet * Elmira Gafarova ( ...

: Эльмира,

backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...

for "электрификация мира", ''elektrifikatsiya mira'' (electrification of the world) * Geliy: Гелий = "

helium Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...

", multiple persons * Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin: Patronym = Ге́льевич. Father's name: Geliy = "helium" *: Изиль = исполнитель заветов Ильича, ''ispolnitel zavetov Il'icha'' (Performer of the Testaments of Il'ich (Lenin)) *

Igor Talankin Igor Vasilyevich Talankin () (3 October 1927 – 24 July 2010) was a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter. His film ''Splendid Days'' (1960, co-directed with Georgiy Daneliya) won the Crystal Globe (Karlovy Vary International Film Fes ...

: birth name: Индустрий (Industriy) * Iskra Babich: И́скра, in reference to ''

Iskra ''Iskra'' (, , ''the Spark'') was a fortnightly political newspaper of Russian socialist emigrants established as the official organ of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). History ''Iskra'' was published in exile and then smuggl ...

'', the revolutionary newspaper, the name of which means "spark" *

Nonna Mordyukova Noyabrina Viktorovna Mordyukova (Russian: Ноябри́на (Но́нна) Ви́кторовна Мордюко́ва; 25 November 1925 – 6 July 2008) was a Soviet and Russian actress and People's Artist of the USSR (1974). She was the star o ...

: born Ноябри́на (Noyabrina), from Noyabr = "November";

(which happened in November by the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

) * Aleksei Oktyabrinovich Balabanov: Patronym = Oктябpинoвич. Father's name: Октябри́н from 'October' *: Радий (Radiy) = "

" * Radner Muratov: Раднэ́р = радуйся новой эре, ''raduysya novoy ere'' ("Hail the new era") *: Рево́льт * Rem Viakhirev: Рем = революция мировая, ''revolyutsiya mirovaya'' (

World revolution World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class. For theorists, these revolutions will not necessarily occur simultaneously, but whe ...

) *: Рэм = Революция, Энгельс, Маркс (Revolution, Engels, Marx) *

Rimma Kazakova Rimma Fyodorovna Kazakova (; 27 January 1932 – 19 May 2008) was a Soviet and Russian poet and translator. She was known for writing many popular songs of the Soviet era. Biography Kazakova was born in Sevastopol, Soviet Union. She graduated fro ...

, birth name Remo, Рэмо = Революция, электрификация, мировой Октябрь,Елена Душечкина
"Мессианские тенденции в советской антропонимической практике 1920-х - 1930-х годов"
("Messianic Tendencies in Soviet Anthroponymic Practice of the 1920s-1930s"), ''

Toronto Slavic Quarterly The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

'' (retrieved August 8, 2015) ''revolyutsiya, elektrifikatsiya, mirovoy Oktyabr'' (Revolution, Electrification, October of the World) * Spartak (given name): Спартак = "

Spartacus Spartacus (; ) was a Thracians, Thracian gladiator (Thraex) who was one of the Slavery in ancient Rome, escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major Slave rebellion, slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Historical accounts o ...

", multiple persons * Telman (given name): multiple persons *

Zhores Alferov Zhores Ivanovich Alferov ( rus, Жоре́с Ива́нович Алфёров, , ʐɐˈrɛs ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ɐlˈfʲɵrəf}; ; 15 March 19301 March 2019) was a Soviet and Russian physicist and academic who contributed significantly to the cr ...

: Жоре́с, after

Jean Jaurès Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès (3 September 185931 July 1914), commonly referred to as Jean Jaurès (; ), was a French socialist leader. Initially a Moderate Republican, he later became a social democrat and one of the first possibi ...

Zhores Medvedev Zhores Aleksandrovich Medvedev (; 14 November 1925 – 15 November 2018) was a Russian agronomist, biologist, historian and dissident. His twin brother is the historian Roy Medvedev. Biography Early life and education Zhores Medvedev and hi ...

: after

Marx/Engels/Lenin

Elem Klimov Elem Germanovich Klimov (; 9 July 1933 – 26 October 2003) was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker. He studied at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, Gerasimov Institute of Cinematograph, and was married to film director Larisa Shepitko ...

: Эле́м = Engels, LEnin, Marx * Engelsina Markizova: Энгельси́на. *

Marlen Khutsiev Marlen Martynovich Khutsiev (4 October 192519 March 2019) was a Georgian-born Soviet and Russian filmmaker best known for his cult films from the 1960s, which include '' I Am Twenty'' and '' July Rain''. He was named a People's Artist of the US ...

: Марле́н = Marx + Lenin * Melor Sturua: Мэлор = "Marx, Engels, Lenin, October Revolution" * Mels (name), multiple persons *: Нинель = "Lenin" read backwards *

Vil Mirzayanov Vil Sultanovich Mirzayanov (, ; born 9 March 1935 in Starokangyshevo, Dyurtyulinsky District, Bashkortostan) is a Russian chemist of ethnic Tatar origin who now lives in the United States, best known for revealing secret chemical weapons experi ...

: Вил, from VIL = Vladimir Ilyich Lenin *: Виль *: Вилен, VILen = Vladimir Ilyich Lenin *: VILen = Vladimir Ilyich Lenin *: Віллен (Ukrainian) * Vladilen, multiple persons *: Владилен * Vladlen, multiple persons * Vladlena, multiple persons *

Willi Tokarev Willi Ivanovich Tokarev (; 11 November 1934 – 4 August 2019) was a Russian-American singer-songwriter. In the 1980s, he became famous throughout the Soviet Union for his songs about life as a Russian ''émigré'' in Brighton Beach, New York. ...

: Вилли, born Vilen

References

{{Reflist Given names Culture of the Soviet Union Soviet phraseology Propaganda in the Soviet Union

History

Common new names

People with Soviet names

Marx/Engels/Lenin

See also

References