Drezina, Dazdraperma and Kukutsapol: how ridiculous Soviet names appeared

There is fashion in clothing, hairstyles, architecture, literature and even names. At the beginning, children were rarely called Matveys, Pelageis and Trofims. Names associated with Soviet symbols, equipment, geographical names and leaders were relevant. Now many of them look ridiculous, and some even make you laugh. But in the 30s and 40s of the last century, some Traktorina was envied by the banal Masha and Nastya.

After 1917, a huge amount of information became available to ordinary people. Soviet newspapers and magazines glorified the achievements of science and technology, which were designed to change the lives of citizens. Residents of the young Soviet country enthusiastically called their children sonorous names, the meaning of which could not always be explained. This is how the Hypotenuse, Helium, Potassium, and Tungsten appeared.

There were also names that sounded quite natural, for example, Elina. But in fact it consisted of the first syllables of the combination “electrification and industrialization.” All kinds of institutions and organizations appeared like mushrooms after rain, the names of which were quite suitable as names for the new citizens of the new state. The boys were called Avtodors, in honor of the “Society for Promoting the Development of Motorism and Improving Roads”, Voenmors, from “Military Sailor”, Agitprops - “Department of Agitation and Propaganda under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)”. The girls became Karmias - “Red Army”, Akadems, in honor of the Academy of Sciences.

Names associated with Soviet slogans stood out in particular. Everyone knows Dazdraperma - “Long live the First of May”, less familiar today is Kukutsapol - “Corn is the queen of the fields!” and Kravasil - “The Red Army is the strongest of all!” Do you know what Pyachegod means? It’s simple - “Five-year plan in four years!” There is a known case where twin boys were named Dognut and Peregnat. For this they should thank V.I. Lenin with his slogan “Catch up and overtake the capitalist countries.” And, of course, your parents.

A lot of joy now can be brought by names formed from the names and surnames of the leaders and heroes of the era. The mysterious Valterperzhenka is “Valentina Tereshkova, the first female cosmonaut.” And the extremely brutal-sounding name Bukharin is associated with N.I. Bukharin, a revolutionary and political figure. Against their background, all sorts of Vladlens - “Vladimir Lenin” and Dzerzhi - “Dzerzhinsky” look very pale. Yes, how do you like Lentrobukh - “Lenin, Trotsky, Bukharin.”

It also happened that children were called words that were understandable to everyone, but completely inappropriate for names. Police, Mauser, Nagant, Monolit, Partizan, Drezina. In remote villages where electricity had recently been installed, one could meet Radiana and even Toilet. Some of these children of industrialization and electrification changed their names as they grew up. But this had to be done carefully. Not everyone could explain to the Soviet passport office why you don’t like the name Yurgag - “Yuri Gagarin” without trembling in the knees.