Names of Soviet origin
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File:Токарев Вилли.jpg was "octobered" with the name Vilen after V.I. Lenin{{cite news|url=http://akazak.ru/chitalnyj-zal/interesnye-stati/117-villi-tokarev-lkogda-tebya-podgonyayut-nado-govorit-lokejr-i-delat-po-svoemur.html|title=Вилли ТОКАРЕВ: "Когда тебя подгоняют, надо говорить "О'кей", и делать по-своему…"|author=Aleksandr Kazakevich|date=2 September 2009|access-date=30 November 2014|archive-date=4 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704074808/http://akazak.ru/chitalnyj-zal/interesnye-stati/117-villi-tokarev-lkogda-tebya-podgonyayut-nado-govorit-lokejr-i-delat-po-svoemur.html|url-status=dead}}]]
Given names of Soviet origin appeared in the early history of the Soviet Union,Richard Stites, Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IY3DfLf8owoC&pg=PA111 p. 111] coinciding with the period of intensive word formation, both being part of the so-called "revolutionary transformation of the society" with the corresponding fashion of neologisms and acronyms,Valeri Mokiyenko, {{Interlanguage link multi|Tatyana Nikitina (philologist){{!}}Tatyana Nikitina|ru|3=Никитина, Татьяна Геннадьевна}} "Толковый словарь языка Совдепии" ("Explanatory Dictionary of Sovdepiya"), St.Petersburg, Фолио-Пресс, 1998, {{ISBN|5-7627-0103-4}}. which Richard Stites characterized as a utopian vision of creating a new reality by means of verbal imagery. They constituted a notable part of the new Soviet phraseology.
Such names may be primarily found in Russian persons,Петровский, Н. А. "Словарь русских личных имён", Moscow, АСТ, 2000, {{ISBN|5-17-002940-3}}. and sometimes in Belarusians and Ukrainians,Скрипник, Л.Г., Дзятківська, Н.П. Власні імена людей. — Kyiv, Naukova Dumka, 2005, {{ISBN|9660005504}} as well as in other minorities of the former USSR (e.g. TatarGumar Sattarov, "What Tatar Names Tell Us About?" (Гомђр Саттар-Мулилле. "Татар исемнђре ни сљйли?" - Kazan: "Rannur" Publishers, 1998, 488 pp.)).
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.Daniel Peris, Storming the Heavens: The Soviet League of the Militant Godless, [https://archive.org/details/stormingheavenss00peri_0/page/92 p. 92]
In defiance of the old tradition of taking names from menology, according to the feast days, many names were taken from nature having patriotic, revolutionary, or progressive connotation: Beryoza (Берёза, "birch tree", a proverbial Russian tree), Gvozdika (Гвоздика, "carnation", a revolutionary flower), Granit (Гранит, "granite", a symbol of power), Radiy (Радий, "radium", 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, Vladlen for Vladimir Lenin.
Richard Stites classifies the Soviet "revolutionary" names into the following categories:Елена Душечкина, [https://web.archive.org/web/20171226235013/http://sites.utoronto.ca/tsq/12/dushechkina12.shtml 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.
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Name (Cyrillic) | Transliteration | Origin | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Вил, Вилен, Владлен, Владлена | Vil, Vilen, Vladlen (m) / Vladlena (f), Vladilen | Владимир Ильич Ленин (Vladimir Ilyich Lenin) | "Vilen" or "Vilén" is also a traditional Finnish and Swedish surname. |
| Мэл | Mel | Маркс, Энгельс и Ленин (Marx, Engels and Lenin) | |
| Мэлс | Mels | Маркс, Энгельс, Ленин и Сталин (Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin) | |
| Баррикад, Баррикада | Barrikad (m) / Barrikada (f) | Barricade | Refers to the revolutionary activity |
| Ревмир, Ревмира | Revmir (m) / Revmira (f) | Революция мира (Revolyutsiya mira) | Means "The revolution of the World" |
| Гертруда | Gertruda | Gertrude reinterpreted as Герой труда (Geroy truda) | Means "The Hero of Labour" |
| Марлен | Marlen (m) | Marlene reinterpreted as Маркс и Ленин (Marx and Lenin) | |
| Стэн | Sten, Stan | Stan reinterpreted as Сталин и Энгельс (Stalin and Engels) | |
| Те́льман | Telman | Telman is a tribute to German Communist Ernst Thälmann | |
| Ким | Kim | Kim reinterpreted as Коммунистический интернационал молодёжи (Kommunistichesky Internatsional Molodyozhi) | Young Communist International |
People with Soviet names
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Barrikad Zamyshlyaev|ru|3=Баррикад Вячеславович Замышляев}}: Баррикад, from "barricade"
- Elmira (name): Эльмира, backronym for "электрификация мира", elektrifikatsiya mira (electrification of the world)
- Geliy: Гелий = "helium", multiple persons
- Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin: Patronym = Ге́льевич. Father's name: Geliy = "helium"
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Izil Zabludovsky|ru|3=Заблудовский, Изиль Захарович}}: Изиль = исполнитель заветов Ильича, ispolnitel zavetov Il'icha (Performer of the Testaments of Il'ich (Lenin))
- Igor Talankin: birth name: Индустрий (Industriy)
- Iskra Babich: И́скра, in reference to Iskra, the revolutionary newspaper, the name of which means "spark"
- Nonna Mordyukova: born Ноябри́на (Noyabrina), from Noyabr = "November"; October Revolution (which happened in November by the Gregorian calendar)
- Aleksei Oktyabrinovich Balabanov: Patronym = Oктябpинoвич. Father's name: Октябри́н from 'October'
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Radiy Pogodin|ru|3=Погодин, Радий Петрович}}: Радий (Radiy) = "radium"
- Radner Muratov: Раднэ́р = радуйся новой эре, raduysya novoy ere ("Hail the new era") Мельников Виталий Вячеславович, Жизнь. Кино., 2011,
{{ISBN|5977506694}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fgApSusyYyAC&pg=PA138 p. 138]
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Revolt Pimenov|ru|3=Пименов, Револьт Иванович}}: Рево́льт
- Rem Viakhirev: Рем = революция мировая, revolyutsiya mirovaya (World revolution)
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Rem Petrov|ru|3=Петров, Рэм Викторович}}: Рэм = Революция, Энгельс, Маркс (Revolution, Engels, Marx)
- Rimma Kazakova, birth name Remo, Рэмо = Революция, электрификация, мировой Октябрь,Елена Душечкина, [http://sites.utoronto.ca/tsq/12/dushechkina12.shtml "Мессианские тенденции в советской антропонимической практике 1920-х - 1930-х годов"] ("Messianic Tendencies in Soviet Anthroponymic Practice of the 1920s-1930s"), Toronto Slavic Quarterly (retrieved August 8, 2015) revolyutsiya, elektrifikatsiya, mirovoy Oktyabr (Revolution, Electrification, October of the World)
- Spartak (given name): Спартак = "Spartacus", multiple persons
- Telman (given name): multiple persons
- Zhores Alferov: Жоре́с, after Jean Jaurès
- Zhores Medvedev: after Jean Jaurès
=Marx/Engels/Lenin=
- Elem Klimov: Эле́м = Engels, LEnin, Marx
- Engelsina Markizova: Энгельси́на.
- Marlen Khutsiev: Марле́н = Marx + Lenin
- Melor Sturua: Мэлор = "Marx, Engels, Lenin, October Revolution"
- Mels (name), multiple persons
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Ninel Tkachenko|ru|3=Ткаченко, Нинель Александровна}}: Нинель = "Lenin" read backwards
- Vil Mirzayanov: Вил, from VIL = Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Vil Lipatov|ru|3=Липатов, Виль Владимирович}}: Виль
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Vilen Zharikov|ru|3=Жариков, Вилен Андреевич}}: Вилен, VILen = Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Vilen Tolpezhnikov|lv|3=Vilens Tolpežņikovs}}: VILen = Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Villen Novak|uk|3=Новак Віллен Захарович}}: Віллен (Ukrainian)
- Vladilen, multiple persons
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Vladilen Letokhov|ru|3=Летохов, Владилен Степанович}}: Владилен
- Vladlen, multiple persons
- Vladlena, multiple persons
- Willi Tokarev: Вилли, born Vilen
See also
- :ru:Список имён советского происхождения – the list of such names