According to Simon Sebag Montefiore's *Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar*, on at least two occasions Stalin's courtiers proposed renaming Moscow Stalinodar. Yezhov proposed it in 1938 when he saw he was losing favor with the Vozhd and was trying desperately to avoid the fate of his predecessor Yagoda. Again, in 1945 after the victory over Germany, Kaganovich proposed it. On both occasions Stalin angrily rejected the idea.
What if Stalin had agreed? After all, sometimes he claimed to be--and perhaps was--unhappy with the honors his sycophants proposed for him, yet ended up accepting them. When it was first proposed to make him Generalissimo, he replied, "Comrade Stalin doesn't need it. Comrade Stalin has the authority without it. Some title you've thought up! Chiang Kai-shek's a Generalissimo, Franco's a Generalissimo--fine company I find myself in!" http://nemaloknig.info/read-183615/?page=71 But in the end he did accept the new title. Becoming Generalissimo did make some political sense, in that it differentiated Stalin from mere marshals (who had become dangerously prestiigous during the war and whom he now wanted to cut down to size). Renaming Moscow Stalinodar would just be seen as pure vanity. (Blaming the "personality cult" on Stalin's vanity is an oversimplification. He was well aware of the difference between himself and the mythical "Stalin" of the cult he had created for political purposes. Once he berated his son Vasily for exploting his surname. "But I'm a Stalin too," Vasily protested. "No, you're not," Stalin replied. "You're not Stalin and I'm not Stalin. Stalin is Soviet power. Stalin is what he is in the newspapers and the portraits, not you, no not even me!" https://books.google.com/books?id=f-HerzgvxssC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6)
But suppose he does accept the name change. Obviously, it's too grotesque to last indefinitely after Stalin's death. Still, when does it get changed back? According to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_named_after_Joseph_Stalin most Soviet places named after Stalin were not renamed until 1961 (in the "peoples' democracies" some were already renamed in 1956). But of course these were very secondary places--Moscow was unique, and its renaming after Stalin would be uniquely offensive.
What if Stalin had agreed? After all, sometimes he claimed to be--and perhaps was--unhappy with the honors his sycophants proposed for him, yet ended up accepting them. When it was first proposed to make him Generalissimo, he replied, "Comrade Stalin doesn't need it. Comrade Stalin has the authority without it. Some title you've thought up! Chiang Kai-shek's a Generalissimo, Franco's a Generalissimo--fine company I find myself in!" http://nemaloknig.info/read-183615/?page=71 But in the end he did accept the new title. Becoming Generalissimo did make some political sense, in that it differentiated Stalin from mere marshals (who had become dangerously prestiigous during the war and whom he now wanted to cut down to size). Renaming Moscow Stalinodar would just be seen as pure vanity. (Blaming the "personality cult" on Stalin's vanity is an oversimplification. He was well aware of the difference between himself and the mythical "Stalin" of the cult he had created for political purposes. Once he berated his son Vasily for exploting his surname. "But I'm a Stalin too," Vasily protested. "No, you're not," Stalin replied. "You're not Stalin and I'm not Stalin. Stalin is Soviet power. Stalin is what he is in the newspapers and the portraits, not you, no not even me!" https://books.google.com/books?id=f-HerzgvxssC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6)
But suppose he does accept the name change. Obviously, it's too grotesque to last indefinitely after Stalin's death. Still, when does it get changed back? According to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_named_after_Joseph_Stalin most Soviet places named after Stalin were not renamed until 1961 (in the "peoples' democracies" some were already renamed in 1956). But of course these were very secondary places--Moscow was unique, and its renaming after Stalin would be uniquely offensive.