Given names of Soviet origin appeared in the early history of the Soviet Union, [3] 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, [4] which Richard Stites characterized as a utopian vision of creating a new reality by means of verbal imagery. [3] They constituted a notable part of the new Soviet phraseology.
Such names may be primarily found in Russian persons, [5] and sometimes in Belarusians and Ukrainians, [6] as well as in other minorities of the former USSR (e.g. Tatar [7] ).
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. [3] [8]
In defiance of the old tradition of taking names from menology, according to the feast days, [3] 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). [4] 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. [3]
Richard Stites classifies the Soviet "revolutionary" names into the following categories: [3] [9]
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. [5]
The following names were quite common and may be found in various antroponymic dictionaries.
Name (Cyrillic) | Transliteration | Origin | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Вил, Вилен, Владлен, Владлена | Vil, Vilen, Vladlen (m) / Vladlena (f), Vladilen | Владимир Ильич Ленин (Vladimir Ilyich Lenin) [4] [5] | "Vilen" or "Vilén" is also a traditional Finnish and Swedish surname. - |
Мэл | Mel | Маркс, Энгельс и Ленин (Marx, Engels and Lenin) [4] [5] | - |
Мэлс | Mels | Маркс, Энгельс, Ленин и Сталин (Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin) | - |
Баррикад, Баррикада | Barrikad (m) / Barrikada (f) | Barricade [4] [5] | Refers to the revolutionary activity |
Ревмир, Ревмира | Revmir (m) / Revmira (f) | Революция мира (Revolyutsiya mira) | Means "The revolution of the World" [4] [5] |
Гертруда | Gertruda | Gertrude reinterpreted as Герой труда (Geroy truda) | Means "The Hero of Labour" [4] [5] |
Марлен | Marlen (m) | Marlene reinterpreted as Маркс и Ленин (Marx and Lenin) [4] [5] | - |
Стэн | Sten, Stan | Stan reinterpreted as Сталин и Энгельс (Stalin and Engels) [4] [5] | - |
Ким | Kim | Kim reinterpreted as Коммунистический интернационал молодёжи (Kommunistichesky Internatsional Molodyozhi) [4] [5] | Young Communist International |
Abijah is a Biblical Hebrew unisex name which means "my Father is Yah". The Hebrew form Aviyahu also occurs in the Bible.
The State and the Revolution: The Marxist Doctrine of the State and the Tasks of the Proletariat in the Revolution is a book written by Vladimir Lenin and published in 1917 which describes his views on the role of the state in society, the necessity of proletarian revolution, and the theoretic inadequacies of social democracy in achieving revolution to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician who served as Chairman of the Secretariat of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) from 1918 until his death in 1919, and as Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee from 1917 until his death.
Aurora is a feminine given name, originating from the name of the ancient Roman goddess of dawn Aurora. Her tears were said to turn into the morning dew. Each morning she traveled in her chariot across the sky from east to west, proclaiming renewal with the rising of the sun. The Romans also associated the Northern Lights, or the Aurora borealis, with the goddess. Aurora is also traditionally the name of the princess in the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty and the many works of art it has inspired. The tale of a cursed princess who slept for one hundred years and was awakened by the kiss of a prince might be considered a modern retelling of the ancient story of Aurora the dawn goddess, whose myths also include stories of a long sleep and an awakening at dawn.
Agathon is a given name.
A Tatar personal name, being strongly influenced by Russian tradition, consists of two main elements: isem and familia and also patronymic. Given names were traditional for Volga Bulgars for centuries, while family names appeared in the end of the 19th century, when they replaced patronymics. In fact, the usage of family names appeared when Russian scribers gave documents to Bulgars. Later, being adapted to Soviet tradition, Volga Bulgars started to use a patronymic as the third element, especially in informal communication.
Lenin's hanging order is a telegram from Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin ordering the suppression and execution of captured participants in the kulak revolt in the Penza Governorate. It was first called the "Hanging Order" by the U.S. Library of Congress. The telegram was addressed to Vasily Kurayev, Yevgenia Bosch and Aleksandr Minkin and other Penza communists, dated 11 August 1918.
Avgust is a male given name.
Vladlen is a masculine given name of Soviet origin, created after Vladimir Lenin's death as a way to advance his cult of personality. Notable people with the name include:
Sociology of Revolution is a 1925 book by Russian American sociologist Pitirim Sorokin. Sociology of revolution as a branch of sociology was developed by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan to a certain extent earlier than Sorokin. Hobbes lived and created in the period of the English Revolution. In the opinion by Hobbes, "the war of all against all" begins in the period of revolution and of Civil War, when all men threaten by each man, when each man has the right to all things by right of strong man, when "Man Is Wolf to Man". Sorokin generalized the data about the new revolutions, which were unknown to Hobbes – for example the French Revolution, Russian Revolution (1917).
The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky is a work by Vladimir Lenin written in October and November 1918 defending the Bolsheviks against criticisms being made against them by Karl Kautsky who was then the intellectual leader of the Second International.
Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolution is a necessary precondition for transitioning from a capitalist to a socialist mode of production. Revolution is not necessarily defined as a violent insurrection; it is defined as a seizure of political power by mass movements of the working class so that the state is directly controlled or abolished by the working class as opposed to the capitalist class and its interests.
In Marxist philosophy, the dictatorship of the proletariat is a condition in which the proletariat, or working class, holds control over state power. The dictatorship of the proletariat is the transitional phase from a capitalist to a communist economy, whereby the post-revolutionary state seizes the means of production, mandates the implementation of direct elections on behalf of and within the confines of the ruling proletarian state party, and institutes elected delegates into representative workers' councils that nationalise ownership of the means of production from private to collective ownership. During this phase, the organizational structure of the party is to be largely determined by the need for it to govern firmly and wield state power to prevent counterrevolution, and to facilitate the transition to a lasting communist society.
Willi Ivanovich Tokarev 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 New York in Brighton Beach.
Avgustina is an uncommon Russian female first name. Its masculine versions are Avgustin and Avgust. The name is derived from the Latin word augustus, which means majestic, sacred, and was borrowed by Russians from Byzantine Christianity. Its colloquial forms are Avgusta (А́вгуста) and Gusta (Гу́ста).
Aventina is a Russian female first name. Its masculine version is Aventin.
Avlida is a Russian female first name. In 1924–1930, the name was included into various Soviet calendars, which included the new and often artificially created names promoting the new Soviet realities and encouraging the break with the tradition of using the names in the Synodal Menologia. This particular name was after Avlida, a town in Boeotia, where according to a legend, the Greek army set sail for the Trojan War and which served as the setting for the Euripides play Iphigenia in Aulis.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is an epic poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky written in 1923–1924. The first fragments of it appeared in October 1924 in numerous Soviet newspapers, and it came out as a separate edition in February 1925 by Leningrad's Gosizdat.
Octobering was a naming ceremony which occurred during the early era of the Soviet Union, which involved giving a name to a newborn, introduced by the state on the official basis of Marxist–Leninist atheism as an attempt to replace the religious tradition of christening. The term serves as a translation of two synonymous Soviet neologisms: Oktyabryenie, coined in an analogy to Kreshcheniye, literally, the sacrament of "baptism", and Oktyabriny instead of Krestiny, the latter being a family celebration on the occasion of baptism.
Vilen, feminine: Vilena are given names originated in the early Soviet Union as an acronym for "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin". Notable people with the name include: