Renaming Leningrad to Petrograd?

After the collapse of the USSR, could Leningrad have been renamed back to Petrograd instead of St. Petersburg? It is my understanding that the name was changed from St. Petersburg to Petrograd at the outbreak of WWI due to cheap nationalism - making the city name sound more Russian and less German. Could the name Petrograd have been resurrected after Russia's return to capitalism, though (probably for much the reason, i.e. exhibiting some Russian nationalism)? Was it ever seriously considered, and were there any particular reasons why Sankt-Peterburg was chosen over Petrograd in 1991, aside from the fact that it had been the city's name for a much longer period of time?
 
i would think that the name st.petersburg has much much more history. it is a name that they all recognise.
they didn't rename the oblast though, st petersburg, leningradskaya oblast ...
 

jahenders

Banned
After the collapse of the USSR, could Leningrad have been renamed back to Petrograd instead of St. Petersburg? It is my understanding that the name was changed from St. Petersburg to Petrograd at the outbreak of WWI due to cheap nationalism - making the city name sound more Russian and less German. Could the name Petrograd have been resurrected after Russia's return to capitalism, though (probably for much the reason, i.e. exhibiting some Russian nationalism)? Was it ever seriously considered, and were there any particular reasons why Sankt-Peterburg was chosen over Petrograd in 1991, aside from the fact that it had been the city's name for a much longer period of time?

St Petersburg had a MUCH longer and more respectable history. The city was St Petersburg from 1703-1914 and was the seat of government during that time. It was only Petrograd from 1914-1924 and that name was an act of a dying empire in a time of chaos. The Soviets then named it Leningrad right after Lenin's death and it remained that for 67 years.

So, when the city's residents wanted to change the name to erase communist legacies, they naturally chose the name with the most, and most glorious, history -- St Petersburg.
 
I thought it was strange they didn't go with Petrograd. Especially as the BNP and its allies was busy at the same time renaming all the Indian cities.

However, a number of major cities in the US have Spanish names. It seems that ordinary people don't really mind these things.
 
It DOES seem odd that it has a German name....

(Hmmm.... They could rename Baku to Petrograd. :) )

Ahaha. I like that. Petrograd, capital of Oilbaijan.

(That said Baku is a fairly old and established name and I doubt people really would like the change).
 
I thought it was strange they didn't go with Petrograd. Especially as the BNP and its allies was busy at the same time renaming all the Indian cities.

However, a number of major cities in the US have Spanish names. It seems that ordinary people don't really mind these things.
A number of US cities have Spanish names because 1) they were founded by the Spanish or 2) they commemorate victories over the Spanish/Mexicans.

Russia has had a long and difficult relationship with Germany since the Teutonic knights. While Peter the Great loved the West, and it's not terribly surprising he picked a German name for his city, it IS surprising that they reinstated it. IMO.

if DC had been named "Ciudad de Ouaxington" (say), I don't think THAT form would have survived.
 
It DOES seem odd that it has a German name....

It is not even German. It was supposed to be Dutch :). Blame Peter the Great. He originally named the city Sankt-Piter-Burch.
Key point that it is not a genuine foreign name, just sounded vaguely European, which Russian Empire tried to be most of the time.
 

trurle

Banned
The "Petrograd" name was too deeply associated in Soviet Union historical textbooks with the communistic coup of 1917. Sankt-Petersburg was selected because the people lobbying for the change were broad coalition of anti-Soviet forces and did not want any (positive or negative) connotation with the events of the 1917. Sankt-Petersburg was just the most neutral compromise name.
 

Tyr Anazasi

Banned
St. Petersburg, Schlüsselburg, Kronstadt, Orenburg, Peterhof. There were several Russian cities/towns/locations named with a German name since the days of Peter the Great.
 
The city was built as St. Petersburg .. was known that until September 1, 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, the Imperial government renamed the city Petrograd, meaning "Peter's City", to remove the German words Sankt and Burg. Same name, just less Germanic.

However after the fall of communism it was logical to return to St. Petersburg since that name is best remembered
 
Petrograd is easier to say and remember and is more native. It was first used officially during WWI, and before that, informally at most.

Sankt Petersburg was chosen as a German-sounding name by Peter I. because he wanted to emphasize the role of the newly founded city in his efforts to westernize Russia. It had a much more German-sounding name, but was the official name until WWI, so it's been in use for longer than either Leningrad or Petrograd.

Both names are perfectly valid, it just depends on what an ATL government, Russian citizens and foreign visitors might prefer for more common usage.
 
The Bolsheviks never liked the name change to Petrograd. They preferred to call it Petersburg or just Peter (before it was renamed Leningrad after Lenin's death). They regarded the wartime name change of Sankt Peterburg to Petrograd as just anti-German chauvinism, but they could do without the "Saint"... (Incidentally, through all the name changes the city was still informally called Peter.)

A few people like Solzhenitsyn did object to the 1991 referendum on the ground that a "Russian" name like "Svyato Petrograd" should be offered as an option, but I think that was pretty much considered an eccentric point of view, motivated by his dislike of Peter the Great as a a German-influenced "Westernizer."
 
Ahaha. I like that. Petrograd, capital of Oilbaijan.

(That said Baku is a fairly old and established name and I doubt people really would like the change).

Why no love for the people who truly kickstarted the industry there? Nobelgrad would be my choice for Baku, as long as we are naming Russian towns after people.
 
Not possible IMHO, a lot of residents of Saint-Petersburg have always regarded their city as "Peter", changing it to Petrograd just won't work.

Really, the problems with renaming the city are a great illustration of the issues of politically-motivated name changes in general. You can make a map say whatever name you want it to say but if you can't sell the people who live there on it, it's just not going to work.
 
There's a Soviet-era joke which summarizes the feelings of many Russians on this issue:

An old man is filling out the census, and the following questions are asked:

Where were you born? Saint-Petersburg

Where did you grow up? Petrograd

Where do you live now? Leningrad

Where do you want to live in the future? Saint-Petersburg
 
The Bolsheviks never liked the name change to Petrograd. They preferred to call it Petersburg or just Peter (before it was renamed Leningrad after Lenin's death). They regarded the wartime name change of Sankt Peterburg to Petrograd as just anti-German chauvinism

A few people like Solzhenitsyn did object to the 1991 referendum on the ground that a "Russian" name like "Svyato Petrograd" should be offered as an option, but I think that was pretty much considered an eccentric point of view, motivated by his dislike of Peter the Great as a a German-influenced "Westernizer."

Mighty interesting. :)

but they could do without the "Saint"... (Incidentally, through all the name changes the city was still informally called Peter.)

Reminds me of how Turčiansky Sv. Martin and Liptovský Sv. Mikuláš were renamed to just Martin and Liptovský Mikuláš during the communist era. :p These name changes were never reversed, as people got used to them.

An old man is filling out the census, and the following questions are asked

There are similar jokes about a man having lived in five different countries, despite never having left Uzhorod in his entire life. :D
 
There's a Soviet-era joke which summarizes the feelings of many Russians on this issue:

An old man is filling out the census, and the following questions are asked:

Where were you born? Saint-Petersburg

Where did you grow up? Petrograd

Where do you live now? Leningrad

Where do you want to live in the future? Saint-Petersburg

Considering "now" he lives in Leningrad he wanting to live in Saint-Petersburg's very hilarious in hindsight :p
 
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