Talk:List of Ukrainian placenames affected by derussification

Scope

I think it should be made clearer which ones correspond to the recent law, as I think "all Ukrainian places that were renamed for derussification" is a very broad scope that could include changes in the 1990s or earlier. Maybe we could create a section for "before 2023"? Pinging page creator @TeddyRoosevelt1912 to get thoughts. HappyWith (talk) 00:56, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

It might also be useful to make a section for places that are set to be renamed, like Poima which is set to be renamed Zaplava, or Novomoskovsk, Ukraine, which is set to open voting on a new name. HappyWith (talk) 00:57, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

This is a good idea, it's just that there would be an extra step of moving the place names within the page after they became officially renamed, but as long as we keep an eye on it there should be no problem. TeddyRoosevelt1912 (talk) 02:30, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know about this. It is perfectly fine to create two separate sections for ones before and ones after the passing of the law, but I don't think it's necessary. It might rather be better if the date of name change approval is included into the table, so that it can be implied without disrupting the lists too much. TeddyRoosevelt1912 (talk) 02:28, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

Merger

@HappyWithWhatYouHaveToBeHappyWith: May I please ask are there any more reasons of your suggestion of merging this list to the article Derussification in Ukraine? MykolaHK (talk) 06:22, 2 July 2024 (UTC)

I left basically all my reasoning at the main discussion at Talk:Derussification in Ukraine, where this should be discussed. HappyWith (talk) 18:29, 14 July 2024 (UTC)

Article direction & improvements

Hey @Shwabb1: thought it'd be good to make a post about this so we could talk over ideas for the list. First thing I wanted to ask: how do you feel about me moving the article from List of Ukrainian toponyms that were changed as part of derussification to List of Ukrainian toponyms changed as part of derussification. I don't think the "that were" adds much to the title and it could use some shortening imo (same with the title for decommunization list too).

Next thing I've been thinking over for a while, should the Law No. applicable column be taken out and replaced with a simple Refs column on the far left (so that it would be similar to how other lists I've worked on like List of ambassadors of Ukraine to the United States or List of spits of Ukraine do it)? I don't think the law number adds too much in itself. That said, I'm also thinking of creating a new column called Date which would include the date that the relevant renaming law was enacted (an efn note could be used to clarify this detail and specify that date is of the enactment of the name change, not the passing of the law).

Continuing with a discussion about the tables, I'm also planning on changing the Old Name & New Name columns to include the Ukrainian Cyrillic for each name in parentheses underneath the English name (somewhat similar to how the English/Ukrainian names are shown in List of presidents of Ukraine). Maybe it could just also go without the parentheses and be in the exact format as in the presidents list? What do you think? The Ukrainian names won't be linked so the interlanguage wiki links/ILLs could be kept as they are; by the way, thanks for adding them all in earlier! :)

About the organization of the list more broadly, I'm also thinking of merging all the Populated places tables together, with the oblasts being distinguished by in-table headers (check the List of ambassadors of Ukraine to the United States list to see what I mean; we can have the oblasts shown within the table as their own rows, which would also help make all the populated places comparable since it would be one large sortable table.

For the Raions & Urban districts tables under Administrative divisions though, those will stay as-is. I'm still considering whether to just proseify them and have them explained in the lead but I think we can handle it later.

If the ideas with the table sound alright, it would really help to start recreating the table. That said, make sure to use the wiki table code that I used for the Raions/Urban districts list. When we bring this list through WP:FL eventually, it'll be a requirement to have the tables use that newer code.

There's a few other things that I'll probably ask you about for the list but those are the main things. Interested to hear your thoughts as always and many thanks for all the work on this and all the other Ukraine articles/lists! :) Dan the Animator 21:06, 23 December 2024 (UTC)

Also, in case it helps, here's how I was thinking the table column organization should like after the changes:

Type | Raion | Old Name | New Name | Date | Notes | Refs

Dan the Animator 21:11, 23 December 2024 (UTC)

Hello @Dantheanimator, thank you for all the work as well as I'm not familiar with the specific requirements for FL status.

I'll be honest, I never even noticed that "that were" is present in the title so it should definitely be moved, I too think it adds nothing. Speaking of the title, I was wondering whether it may be too generic? "Toponym" refers to any geographical feature, which could include streets, parks, buildings, etc. which are not covered in the list (and they definitely shouldn't be - there are too many of them). Something like List of Ukrainian administrative divisions and populated places changed as part of derussification would be more accurate but too awkward/inconvenient. I don't think there's a better word for this than "toponym" or "placename", so alternatively a section could be added mentioning that many other small-scale toponyms were changed that are not listed here. What do you think?

As for the Refs and Date columns - why not combine these two into one? After all, the same law comes into force on the same date, and any other relevant references could be included in other columns. There could be just one Date column that would include the references to the relevant laws.

I don't mind including the Ukrainian names. Currently I only added them where they are absolutely necessary (e.g., to distinguish the change from Нянчине to Няньчине, both of which are romanized Nianchyne), but for consistency this could be expanded to all items. I did some comparing and I personally like small text without paranthesis, I think it breaks up the cells a little (while normal size text looks too homogeneous), see example here.

Combining all tables sounds like a good idea to make sorting easier and I think it looks better, but then it wouldn't be possible to jump to a specific section using the table of contents, would it? A section could still be found with Ctrl+F but some people may not use that function. Overall, I'm not sure whether navigation or sorting should be prioritized for this. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 10:13, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

Thanks Shwabb1 for the post and all the edits and everything and apologies again about the delay with following-up with this: I’ve been distracted a lot by a few too many competing priorities. To finally reply to the above:

• About FL, no worries, I've been through the process successfully a number of times now so I'll be helping with every step of that when we get there (also planning to co-nominate this list with you so I'll certainly be taking the lead part with all the FL specificities when it's time and I’ll make it a top priority too).
• Figuring out a better title was by far the toughest thing and held my reply up the most but, that said, after thinking it plenty through, I would support renaming the article to either List of Ukrainian placenames affected by derussification or List of placenames in Ukraine affected by derussification. I think it's meaning is understood well enough from either of those titles and they're not overly lengthy. About the suggestion on mentioning other small-scale toponym name changes, we'll see and probably discuss it again but I have a feeling that that info could fit in well in the lead and partially also in the See also section.
• About combining the Refs & Date columns, I completely agree. The way you formatted the date column in the sample you made/linked to is perfect I think. The day the name change occurred is more understandable/useful to readers so best to have that shown in the column while having the law as a footnote citation on the date.
• I also like the way you did it without parentheses. :) Maybe if/when you have time, add in the Ukrainian names with that formatting and I'll help copy it over to the newer table markup.
• I would've originally said no but turns out Wiki markup is much more useful than I thought and learned a bit of new markup stuff this past month. I tested it out a bit and good news is both the original navigability and sort ability carry through with the current code!

Also this wasn't mentioned above but to cutback on excess code and based on my experience with List of villages in Donetsk Oblast, I made the raions have rowspan. This doesn't affect the other columns at all I don't think and really helps simplify things imo. Let me know your thoughts when you can and many thanks again for the patience :) Dan the Animator 04:09, 13 February 2025 (UTC)

Don't be worried about the delay, I was neglecting the list for a while as well and have recently focused on other projects, but it's good to be back.

For the title, I like the option List of Ukrainian placenames affected by derussification, it's precise and concise. Do you think List of Ukrainian toponyms that were changed as part of decommunization in 2016 should be renamed similarly as well?

I'm thinking maybe the Ukrainian-language names in the table could be linked to the respective Ukrainian Wikipedia articles instead of using the ILL templates. I believe that would look better.

Also, I really like the way you're formatting the table now, it's both easy to sort and navigate, and looks good aesthetically. I would've never figured out how to do that on my own, so thank you for that. Though I'm not sure if the flag icons should be included - they could help to navigate by highlighting the start of each table section, but the flags on their own aren't easily recognizable even to most Ukrainians.

And one last thing - currently parts of the table are sorted alphabetically, but according to the Ukrainian alphabet (e.g., Zvenyhorodka Raion -> Zolotonosha Raion -> Cherkasy Raion; in English these would be reversed), so this will need to be fixed as well in the future. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 05:40, 13 February 2025 (UTC)

Thanks! :D About the titles, awesome and yup, I'll include the decommunization list for renaming (so the new article titles will be List of Ukrainian placenames affected by derussification & List of Ukrainian placenames affected by decommunization). Also agree that the ILLs can be taken out with the Ukrainian names linking directly to the Ukrainian Wikipages instead. I've been doing a similar switch in Donetsk's villages list so I'll definitely help with that. In case you start taking out the ILLs soon though, just make sure to keep the redlinks on the (new) English names. About the table formatting, thank you thank you! :) Working on my other Ukrainian list projects helped quiet a bit in learning more about the markup but still a lot left to figure out. For the flag icons, good point. To be honest, I have a feeling there'll be a request by someone during the FL review to have them taken out anyways so they definitely aren't a permanent addition and they're relatively easy to take out in the end. For the order, yup, there'll have to be some work done to have it alphabetized correctly but that'll be saved for the end when all the other table formatting/content is more finalized. Dan the Animator 14:00, 13 February 2025 (UTC)

Shwabb1: Small thing I noticed but shouldn't Gudzivka (in Zvenyhorodka Raion) be transliterated as Hudzivka since the letter g is avoided in Ukrainian transliteration? Also feel free to improve the sample I put in for that. Dan the Animator 15:17, 13 February 2025 (UTC)

Nope, that's correct. Ґ is transliterated as G according to the national romanization (which is the one used officially for toponyms). On the other hand, Г is transliterated as H. See here. It's just that the letter Ґ is very uncommon to begin with and wasn't officially used in the Soviet era (it was essentially banned to make the Ukrainian alphabet closer to Russian), so this settlement was called Гудзівка/Hudzivka (despite being derived from the word ґудзик/gudzyk). Hudzivka was renamed to Gudzivka specifically to fix this issue. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 15:28, 13 February 2025 (UTC)

The same applies to Dzyhivka → Dzygivka. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 15:30, 13 February 2025 (UTC)

Ah I see, that makes sense. Thanks for teaching me, great to learn a new letter! :) Dan the Animator 15:35, 13 February 2025 (UTC)

Thanks Shwabb for adding in much of the Ukrainian names! :) I think I just finished most of my major edits/additions to the lead so let me know what you think of it/if anything should be changed/added in/reworded/taken out/etc. There's a few other things I've been thinking of with the notes column of the table as well as a few other things too that I'm planning on asking about but I'll send that in another message soonish. There's some off-wiki work I'll have to catch up with tomorrow (16th) and maybe Monday (17th) too so I won't be editing too much for those two days but I'll still be able to reply to messages or follow-up on anything. I'm thinking during the time, finishing adding in as much of the Ukrainian names to the rest of the table would be really helpful. I also plan on adding in the missing references to the lead next week hopefully but any help with this would be great too.

I know you're also more familiar with this topic area than me so I'm thinking, I already added in the case with Rivne but if there's any other earlier examples of legally derussified places definitely add those in (I suspect Odesa might have been derussified around the same time as Rivne but I haven't searched for a bill/decree for it yet). Thanks again for all your help with this and let me know what you think with everything! Dan the Animator 08:02, 16 February 2025 (UTC)

@Dantheanimator thank you for the work on the lead and the table format. Actually I also have a bit of work for tomorrow but I'll try to finish the Ukrainian names ASAP.

The case of Rivne makes me question what exactly the scope of this article is. There were quite a few cases of individual renaming (especially of villages) way before 2015, and some of them would fall under derussification/decommunization but were not necessarily presented as such (rather, the renamings would be justified as the return of historic names or change of the spelling to conform with the language standards). Of course, the ones where derussification is obviously present (e.g., if the previous name was related to a Russian or it followed the rules of the Russian over Ukrainian language) should count in this article, but there are certain instances where I'm not certain, especially when it comes to cases that are related to early decommunization. For example, the village Liadske was renamed to Chervone in 1963 (clearly to promote the Communist symbolism of the red color), and in 1992 the original name was returned. Should this village be listed here? In my opinion, no, as there is a separate list of placenames affected by decommunization. However, this list also includes some recent cases of decommunization (as 5 villages named Chervone were renamed following the derussification legislation), which might seem inconsistent. In addition, there doesn't seem to be a specific time interval that this list falls under (do Soviet-era renamings count? or even before that?). My proposal for the scope of the article (when it comes to populated places) is the following: ALL examples of derussification since the independence of Ukraine (24 August 1991), and examples of decommunization after 2022, but not including early renamings which are not obviously related to derussification. This means that early examples of decommunization, as well as respellings in cases when the previous names were not obviously russified, do not count. What do you think?

PS: Odesa doesn't count, it has always been named Odesa in Ukrainian. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 10:30, 16 February 2025 (UTC)

Also, that would mean that Rovno -> Rivne doesn't count as that renaming happened before Ukrainian independence. While it is a clear example of derussification, it would be hard to create a comprehensive list of all pre-independence derussified toponyms. We'd probably also run into problems considering that many settlements named after Russian imperialists were renamed in the early Soviet period (technically derussifying them), but the new names would often be related to communism (meaning they would later be decommunized either in 2016 or under the current derussification laws). As an example, Kostiantynohrad (named after a member of the Russian Imperial family) was renamed to Krasnohrad ('red city') in 1923, and then once again renamed recently to Berestyn. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 10:42, 16 February 2025 (UTC)

Or alternatively we can set the start date as year 1990, which would cover Rivne. Or would that be too arbitrary? Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 11:50, 16 February 2025 (UTC)

Thanks! For the Ukrainian names, please don't worry... ASAP is definitely way too quickly (I think the pace you've been doing it before is more than enough) plus I might not be able to keep up ;) About the article, good point... given there are still decommunization laws being drafted/enacted (mostly for Crimea) and there is the decommunization list, this list wouldn't include any name changes considered as part of decommunization.

So I was thinking the scope of this list should cover: all the names changed by what are generally called/considered the derussification laws (post-2022) as well as other legal name changes (pre-2022) that removed a Russian namesake/spelling that was not included as part of what are generally called/considered the decommunization laws OR removed a Russian namesake/spelling that was not directly associated with the Soviet Union/communism/etc. Based on your points, I agree, it would be limited strictly to post-independence (post-24 August 1991) renamings

• With this criteria, it includes the renamings of some communism-associated names but only those that were renamed through the derussification laws (such as the 26 September law and the other similar ones)

• All the other post-independence removals of communism-associated names would go on the List of Ukrainian placenames affected by decommunization

• It includes spelling/wording changes from what are clearly Russian spelled/worded names to Ukrainian spelling/wording

• Only those changes after 24 August 1991 would be included in the tables, so Rivne would have to be removed unfortunately but I'm thinking the lead could say a word or two to highlight this & other notable things (more on this below)

• It also includes the post-independence restoration of historical names that were renamed by Russia, except if it involves the removal of a communism-associated name
• For administrative divisions, the efn note in the lead already explains this but only currently existing administrative divisions are included and all hromadas that were probably affected by derussification are excluded

In the case of Liadske, based on the above criteria and like you said, because it involves the post-independence removal of a communism-associated name before 2022, it should go on the decommunization list.

It might seem a bit inconsistent to some readers but the alternative would be even more complex and less logical than this imo. I think the criteria should cover almost all name changes too but we could always discuss if there's any borderline cases. Also I'm just realizing I mostly rephrased what your proposed scope but at least it can't hurt to have it reworded :)

About the pre-independence name changes, I think its a interesting topic that would be great to have included somewhere on Wikipedia but I agree it would get way too complicated if tried to add in all of that here. And yeah, 1990 might be a bit too arbitrary. That said, historical context is helpful for these things and for the article lead sentence "During the last years prior to and in the initial decades after independence [...] some limited local government-sponsored renamings over the years." I'm thinking of changing it out to summarize the pre-independence renaming/derussification situation based on your comments and to include your really great example with Berestyn and also Rivne since it's the only oblast name derussified as far as I know. I'll let you know when that lead work is finished though and definitely feel free to tell me if there's a better example or other things I should consider when summarizing pre-independence derussification renamings. Dan the Animator 18:30, 16 February 2025 (UTC)

The way you divided the idea into bullet points actually helps a lot, and yeah, that seems good to me. And I agree, mixing up the two lists would be confusing. But now I realize there's some gray area between the two, specifically for the settlements named after the First of May. Back in 2015-2016, decommunization wasn't as thorough and strict as derussification is now, so these would generally be left out (only 3 were renamed at that time). The majority of the First of May settlements were renamed only recently, and it's debatable whether these should be considered part of decommunization or derussification in the broader sense. Should the First of May settlements that got renamed before the derussification laws (excluding the 3 renamed as part of decommunization) be included in this list? Specifically, I'm talking about Pervomaiske -> Hadai that is already on the list and a few more from the 90s. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 03:59, 17 February 2025 (UTC)

It's just my opinion but I would argue that any pre-2022 decommunization name change (regardless how it was considered at the time of its renaming) should be left to the decommunization list. The table shows the Pervomaiske -> Hadai name change happening on 29 June 2023 so it should be kept here but if there are any removals of First of May names dating from the 90s those would go on the decommunization list (since they're before the full-scale invasion). I mean I should say, technically name changes from derussification laws only started really happening after Law 3005-IX got enacted on 21 March 2023 but I think its fair to say most/all other Russian name removals after the start of the full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022 occurred in anticipation of this law. Not sure if this makes sense but also like you said though, it is debatable and I'd be open to reconsidering it. Dan the Animator 04:15, 17 February 2025 (UTC)

Yeah I agree, it's just that whether First of May is a strictly communist theme is what's debatable here. In 2016 it wasn't considered as such (except for 3 cases), which is why I bring this up. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 04:19, 17 February 2025 (UTC)

Ah I see, well I'll leave it up to you to decide but I would recommend keeping it consistent (e.g. all pre-2022 First of Mays (except the 3) should either be here or the other list) and also considering the size of the lists though I get the sense we're both on the same page about this anyways and that I might be overthinking it.

I was meaning to bring this up though but how would you feel about renaming/reworking the Notes section? I was thinking we could retitle the column something along the lines of Renaming reason and cut out some of the excess phrasing (e.g. simply say something like "Did not match Ukrainian language standards" instead of "Old name did not conform with norms of the Ukrainian language"). What do you think? I was originally thinking maybe the column title could be changed to Namesake so entries like "Previously named after Nikolai Vatutin" would simply be Nikolai Vatutin but I couldn't figure a good way to have Old name did not conform... entries logically fit in into that organization. Dan the Animator 04:32, 17 February 2025 (UTC)

By the way, I'm leaving the oblasts header in the administrative divisions table in case you find an oblast derussified post-independence but feel free to take it out if you're sure there's no oblasts that could be put here (I can fix the table of contents when/if you take it out). Dan the Animator 04:36, 17 February 2025 (UTC)

Well, in that case for now let's leave things as they are; personally, I think First of Mays all count as decommunization.

And yes, I agree that the Notes section should be reworked, some could definitely be shorter. I also wanted to ask you whether the new names should be discussed in the Notes section at all (some currently say that the original name was returned), and whether all of them should include references. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 05:16, 17 February 2025 (UTC)

After taking a look through how its shown at the moment, I would say take those mentions out of the Notes column and just have a short efn note that says "original name returned" and add it next to all the "new names" that it would apply to. I could do this relatively quickly if you want. I've also been thinking of removing most of the hromada efn notes anyways since I don't think they really add much but what do you think? Having one efn note for all the "original name returned" would work either way too. And yup, all of them should have references that verify the meaning/origin of the placename and/or reason for the name change. Also, what do you think of the reworded first paragraph of the lead? I tried to incorporate your and my ideas from earlier to give it more historical context but I'm sure it probably could be improved a bit. Dan the Animator 05:54, 17 February 2025 (UTC)

Wait also so I don't forget and was meaning to ask, should we add in Crimea? There's a lot of placenames in AR Crimea/Sevastopol that have been affected by decommunization already and I think sooner than later some of the various draft derussification bills for renaming Crimean localities/administrative divisions will be passed and enacted. Also, the restriction on enacting new laws/reforms regarding Crimea was removed in 2023 and I remember reading about how a few smaller villages/settlements were renamed in the 90s after Crimean Tatars started to return so I think it would be good to include. It would also be complimentary to the separate existing list Renaming of Crimean toponyms, which has a scope limited to Soviet-era renamings and is in need of a lot of work too. Dan the Animator 06:34, 17 February 2025 (UTC)

Also thought I'd let you know, I'm planning on adding efn notes to mark which places are under Russian occupation, similar to how List of cities in Ukraine does it. And I remember you mentioned earlier but how did you want to alphabetize the list? I can help with it but I wasn't too sure if you wanted to have it alphabetized by raions (which I think makes the most sense) or by some other way. I'm also wondering maybe should the 2022/2023 in Ukraine categories be removed considered the larger time-scope of the list? Don't mind keeping them though wanted to ask in case. Dan the Animator 06:41, 17 February 2025 (UTC)

Alright, I'll look over the entire list and try to identify which ones had their original names returned (which would be a large portion I imagine), but that's after I finish adding the Ukrainian names. I got the information on why they were renamed mostly from the list published by the Institute of National Memory if I remember correctly, so I'll have to find that (though for some I had to research separately).

As for the hromada efns, these would serve to distinguish the settlements before they got renamed, but now they have different, new names, so, yes, these notes are probably redundant and can be removed.

The lead looks great, thanks for all the work. There are some more details that could be mentioned but they are probably unimportant, though feel free to add/modify anything as you see fit.

There is, in fact, a draft resolution (that's not officially registered on the website of the Verkhovna Rada yet) on renaming a lot of the settlements in AR Crimea, in doing so also returning the original Crimean Tatar names in most cases (see here). However, it is planned to implement those after Crimea comes under the jurisdiction of Ukraine. In addition to all this, there are also parties calling for a radical derussification of Crimea, including renaming Simferopol to Akmesdzhyt and Sevastopol to Akiar, but there are no draft resolutions on this at the moment. (By the way, Sevastopol de jure covers only the city itself since 2023 and no other settlements). From what I can find, there were only 2 renamings in Crimea in 1990s that could be considered part of derussification (Bilokamiansk -> Inkerman and Tanyne -> Sary-Bash), but both happened before Ukrainian independence. There were also a few more that are simple respellings or would fall under decommunization. So, there's no reason to add AR Crimea to this list as of right now.

I wanted to alphabetize the list first by raion, then by populated place, according to the English rather than Ukrainian alphabet. Regarding the categories, I think it makes sense to delete them considering what you already said and also the fact that most renamings happened in 2024, not 2022-2023. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 12:30, 17 February 2025 (UTC)

Thanks and sounds good. About the lead, what details were you thinking? They probably aren't as unimportant as you think plus even if they're not added to the lead, I'd be quite curious to know ;)

For Crimea, over the summer when I was working on List of cities in Crimea, I remember that amendments were passed in 2023 making the new raions in Crimea de jure come into force on October 2023. I'd assume there'd be similar amendments to other Crimea-related legislation or is this only the case for the administrative reform? Also about Sevastopol, technically speaking, while most of its former federal territory was merged to Bakhchysarai Raion, there are still a few separate settlements (most notably Balaklava) that are still in Sevastopol's borders. There's also most of Sevastopol's urban districts that would be affected eventually by derussification/decommunization though it makes sense that no renamings have been done yet and probably won't be done for a while so I agree about leaving off Crimea.

Ah got it, thanks! I can help with that a bit over the week when I have time. And saw earlier, thanks for cleaning up the categories! :) Dan the Animator 01:12, 18 February 2025 (UTC)

Also meant to add this to the above but thanks for adding in the sample shorter notes! I think it's definitely an improvement though I'm still wondering whether there would be a way to further shorten them/eliminate the repetition and have it more consistent (e.g. why First of May/red color starts with "alluded to" while the others start with "named after"). Probably need a bit more time to think it through since I really do feel like there's a way to simplify it more. Dan the Animator 01:23, 18 February 2025 (UTC)

The more important thing I was thinking of that could be mentioned is that technically there were two waves of renamings in the Soviet Union: the first is in the 20s and 30s as already described, and the second is after World War 2 (as Ukrainian SSR expanded to include western regions, and some settlements were renamed after Soviet army generals and soldiers). Then there were some renamings in other periods, for example Chervonohrad (now Sheptytskyi) got its name after the 1951 Polish–Soviet territorial exchange. Also (more of a fun fact), there were plans to derussify toponyms under the Ukrainian People's Republic, but they were never implemented.

The specific laws on administrative divisions and decommunization were amended to include Crimea in 2023, but that wasn't done for the derussification laws as of right now. And yes, Balaklava is currently administered as a separate populated place under Russian control, but de jure it's part of Sevastopol city (possibly not incorporated into Bakhchysarai Raion as a protest against Russia giving Balaklava the city status). The other de jure part of Sevastopol only includes the main portion of the city, none of the suburbs. Even the settlements without official populated place status were excluded (Khersoneskyi Maiak, Kozacha Bukhta, Fiolent, Zolota Balka, Pervomaika, Oboronne, Sakharna Holovka, etc). Renamings of urban districts are done by the local government (in this case, the Sevastopol City Council), not the Verkhovna Rada, so we will probably have to wait a long time before they are derussified.

Repeating "Named after" for almost every note does seem redundant, I agree. But there are cases where a couple words is not enough to describe the situation (see Pereiaslav). Then there're neutral names like Lopukhiv, Novhorodske, and Novohrad-Volynskyi, where the intent rather than the names themselves matters. If not for the few cases like that, I wouldn't mind renaming the entire section to "Namesake". But you're right, there's probably a way to simplify this further, I can't think of one currently though. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 06:47, 18 February 2025 (UTC)

I've been thinking about the title of the list and I've come to the conclusion that List of Ukrainian placenames affected by decolonization might be a better name. The Ukrainian Wikipedia page uses the word decolonization, and so does the law On the Condemnation and Prohibition of Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponymy. "Decolonization" covers derussification but also recent examples of decommunization (since this is a relatively new term in this context), so I think this would more precisely describe the content of this list. However, since this is a new term, it could could be argued that it doesn't apply to the older renamings on the list, so I'm not outright against keeping the current name.

Also, shortly after Ukrainian independence, some villages near the Hungarian border returned their historic Hungarian names. The Soviet-installed names were not directly related to anything Russian, but the case reminds me of Lopukhiv -> Brustury which is already on this list, so do you think those should be included?

Many thanks for the alphabetization by the way. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 16:44, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

There's a lot to cover so looks like this is going to be quiet a long reply but to start off, thanks for all the work with the references and finishing the Ukrainian names (for both the pop. places & raions) and the really detailed replies and everything else the past week! :)

Like I mentioned in the edit summary the other night, the list is basically about ready for FL nomination and much of the main tasks have been fixed up though there are some important things left to be done so what I think I'll do is make this post a combination of a bulleted list addressing improvements that are/might be left to do with the list (which would also answer/respond to some of your newer comments) while I'll also make an additional paragraph on the bottom giving my thoughts about the other, non-article stuff (Crimea and the fun facts which I really liked too by the way) and also about how I'm thinking to do the FL nomination with questions with all of that too ;)

Title/Scope

• I think List of Ukrainian placenames affected by decolonization would be a great title though I'd be worried about the scope. The English Wiki Decolonization in Ukraine article characterizes decolonization as including both decommunization and derussification so I would get the impression that this list would have to have the decommunization list merged here to be complete. But as you mentioned, decolonization is a more recent term and doesn't necessarily cover earlier cases of decommunization but instead simply covers all the derussification & decommunization name changes since the 2023 law, which is most of what this list is about. That said, where then would the pre-2023 derussification name changes go? I mean, technically we could make a separate list but in my opinion, I feel like pre- and post-invasion derussification isn't inherently different: removing Russian names/spelling is derussification regardless of when it happens and in a way, a lot of the reasons of some of the name changes of the 90s (like Niu York) are the same as the more recent ones (e.g. Chekhohrad and Niu York were both intended on restoring the local historical name/identity of the place). Also, there were other "colonial" powers in Ukraine at different times in history (Austro-Hungarians, Ottomans, Romans, Poland-Lithuanians, etc.) so someone who doesn't have prior knowledge of or hasn't heard of "the decolonization of Ukraine" might read the title as including the removal/changes of names coming from these earlier times (I would also add that during the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth reign over much of Ukraine, there was some effort at the polonization of the county which included the adoption/use of Polish language spelling/placenames that were later replaced so what "decolonization of Ukraine" means could really become ambiguous or potentially contested).
• I agree that the current title isn't great but its the most straightforward/understandable option that I can think of and fits in with how the general topic of Ukraine's decolonization is covered on the English wiki (e.g. there being a derussification and decommunization list and article for each and "decolonization" being represented as a collective term including these two separate sub-topics). I'm open to considering other titles but I feel like in any case it would be good to keep earlier derussifications together with newer ones since they're quite similar and the older ones give context to and useful comparisons for the newer ones (e.g. it kind of helps readers answer/figure out the question of whether the full-scale invasion has fundamentally changed the reasoning behind individual name changes or rather just accelerated the process).
• About the post-independence restoration of Hungarian placenames, how many cases are there? It kind of reminds me of the list Hungarian toponyms in Zakarpattia Oblast which could probably also include information about some of those name changes there. That said, my instinct is they and all other restorations of pre-Soviet historical names should be included here. After all, the point of derussification in my opinion is about removing the influence/changes made by the Russian/Soviet government towards Ukraine. It doesn't really matter what the old name is but rather the reason for its renaming (like Sukhanivka's former name Andriivka since there's dozens if not hundreds of Andriivkas across Ukraine that are historical names that go back centuries and obviously won't be renamed but this one Andriivka was renamed because the reason for that name's adoption was to erase the original historical identity/name of the place, which was historically based on a local landowner/founder named Sukhanov). Also saw you mentioned Brustury which is also a great example yeah. The only times where I might be opposed to including a restoration of a historical name onto this list would be cases where the historical name restored was a Russified name that was later derussified or is liable to being derussified sooner than later but these are only a few limited cases and footnotes/expanded descriptions on the notes like with the entry for Pereiaslav would probably be enough to clarify those cases.

Lead

• The top priority task for the lead is sourcing. I'm hoping to get as much of the references inserted before I nominate for FL over the weekend but any help would be super appreciated! Having in-line references that verify all the information in the lead is a must and will definitely have to be addressed eventually. In case it helps too thought I'd say, for references don't worry about finding sources that say exactly what's being said, they just have to back up the assertion/essence of the claims (like for the sentence "Amongst the most common names [...] Alexander Suvorov." the UINM reference you've been adding to the table notes is probably good enough). Although if you find a good source that says what the lead says definitely add it. I listed a few sources in a big comment below the lead which I made a while back ago that could be helpful though I have a feeling there are other, better sources. The first lead paragraph I've had the toughest time with sources for by the way. (to clarify, I was thinking I would do the lead references so you can focus on the table refs but didn't want to make it sound like I'm forcing you to do one thing instead of another)
• About the lead wording & content: definitely there will be some more changes before this gets passed and I'll make sure to add in/change those first few sentences in the lead depending on if the scope changes/needs more clarity (per the above comments about the title). For the renaming waves/periods and the UPR's unenacted plans, thanks for teaching me!! :) I definitely think it could (and in my opinion should) be included but I'm thinking I'll do it mostly through the use of one or two detailed footnotes (similar to how efn c in List of cities in Kherson Oblast gives a lot of extra nice detail). I'll make sure to follow up here when I reword/add in the content though so you can let me know what you think then.

Tables

• Top priority is sourcing the notes though I have to say you've done a really great job with it! ;) Like with the lead, don't stress about getting them all done super quickly; I think the pace you've been doing it so far has been more than enough and I'll help out a bit if I can though I'll be prioritizing work on the lead given it'll probably be more efficient since I'm less familiar with the UINM sources.
• Not sure if we talked about it before but why do some of the populated places have empty notes? Thinking it would be good to have notes for all the places so definitely add them in if you can and eventually add in their references too.
• To follow-up on something we talked about a little while ago, for places that had their former/pre-Soviet names restored, I'm starting to think maybe we should keep it the way it is right now (e.g. really only mentioning it in the note if its the reason for the renaming like with Brustury, Pereiaslav, Volodymyr, etc. as well as with the restored Hungarian names). So don't worry about researching which names are original, the renaming reason I think is more important though open to reconsidering if you want.
• About how to condense/rework the Notes column... I'm still thinking. This might be something I'll ask a few other people on and off-wiki for their opinions and maybe the FL nomination process will help with but best to leave it as-is for now and not stress about it (definitely let me know if you come up with any new interesting ideas though)
• Adding in more renamed places/divisions is also an active to do thing which many thanks for figuring out about Niu York & Kyivske & the Hungarian names! :) I'll help out and add in any other post-independence de-russified places I find too.

This is everything I could think of in need of further work but feel free to let me know if here's anything you've spotted. Also, I know you mentioned you're not too familiar with the featured list process and this is also technically my first co-nomination so thought I'd share my thoughts and experience about it and also so we could discuss anything you might have questions about.

Most featured list nominations take about a month to get promoted though it really depends on the availability and willingness of other editors to review the nominated list. There are a few Ukraine-topic editors I'm thinking of pinging for this nomination so it might not take a whole month but I remember one of the FL administrator coordinators saying there's a de facto minimum nomination time period of about 2 weeks before it can be promoted so probably will take a few weeks in any case.

This will be my 6th featured list nomination so I was thinking if it's alright with you, I'll type up and post the nomination. I'm planning on making this an official co-nomination so you'll be included on the nomination page and be credited when it does get promoted. You can kind of see just scrolling through the current nominations a lot of the improvements other editors find/suggest are smaller things like typos, grammar, fixing code, and given we've already done a lot of work with the list, there probably won't be any major changes we'll have to do. For responding to editor suggestions during the nomination, I don't think it matters much if it's you or I responding and I think it'll work out fine to be honest. If anything ever comes up, you can ping me and I'll reply within 24 hours.

Also, unrelated to everything above but about Crimea/Sevastopol renamings, thanks again for telling me about it! :) I might add in/rewrite a bit of List of cities in Crimea based on your comments. Definitely sounds like Crimea has a long legislative journey ahead of it. Dan the Animator 03:12, 22 February 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for the detailed reply.

Title/Scope

• Yeah, I agree, "decolonization" might be too vague and possibly confusing for people unfamiliar on the subject, so let's keep the current name for now. It might not be 100% accurate but it is easily understandable to the average reader.
• I found three laws returning Hungarian names to Zakarpattian localities (from 1991, 1995, and 2000), and in total there are around 30 renamings. Some of these laws also made local dialectal names official (e.g., Bodoliv -> Badalovo), but they shouldn't be on this list since these are respellings based on local pronunciation and reversals of Ukrainian homogenization rather than derussification, in my opinion. And you're right, strangely enough there were some cases of the returned "historic" name being russified: Teplohirsk -> Irmino from 2010 comes to mind (and what's even more interesting, Irmino isn't even on the Commission's "to be renamed" list as of right now).

• I saw all the additions with the Hungarian names and many thanks again for finding all of them!! :) They're really interesting to go through and compare with the others and add a lot of depth to the list I think. Also unrelated to this list but if you still have those laws that made local dialectal names official, definitely send them to me on my talkpage because I'm hoping to eventually work on Hungarian toponyms in Zakarpattia Oblast and those references will definitely come in handy for that list.

Lead

• Sure, I can search for some references for the lead, but for now I'll be prioritizing the table references (more on that in the next section). The footnote idea sounds great as well.

Tables

• Currently, I only added the obvious sources (the Commission's list of toponyms that don't conform with language standards, the UINM's list of toponyms with Imperial/Soviet/Russian symbolism, and explanatory notes for individual laws). However, I expect there will be some problems going forward. First of all, the UINM's list that is published on their website is an old iteration, and I can't find an updated version anywhere (the old one doesn't even have a singular populated place from Luhansk Oblast, and includes some that were removed from the list later, for example Oleksandriia). On the other hand, as the Commission on State Language Standards is part of the government (unlike UINM), its list is published with all updates on the website of the Verkhovna Rada. However, it doesn't include a few cases that seemed like they should be on the list (notably Zelena Roshcha in Sumy Oblast). Overall, I don't think it will be problematic to find sources for some of the larger settlements that are currently unsourced, but, I predict, unfortunately some villages will be left without sources. And, no, the explanatory note to law 3984-IX is not particularly useful, it doesn't delineate why every individual populated place was renamed.

• I don't think not having source for all the populated places will necessarily be a huge issue. It definitely would be better to have the sources of course but I think the FL will still pass without them (more about this below). Also have to say, you've done really outstanding work in finding the sources! I would've took weeks to find many of the sources so many thanks for going through and finding all these lists and other great refs! :)

• The populated places with empty notes are the ones for which I couldn't find an exact reason why they were renamed. A lot of them seem to be derived from the name Petro/Pyotr, likely Peter I, but I didn't find any good sources that confirm this, though I'll try to search for some in the near future. Regarding this, in case I don't find any sources for certain populated places, do you think it's best to leave those fields empty?

• Interesting, I always assumed for the most part that the Petrivkas are derived from some Bolshevik named Peter like how so many of the other names follow that pattern but it makes a lot of sense that you say it. When you can, for those places without notes currently that you have an idea what the name origin could be but don't have a source for it, add in an invisible comment next to the dash filler thing. It'll help me a lot to say the least.

• True, researching whether every single new name is original/historic would take a long time, so this should not be a priority (for now at least).
• For the rework of the Notes column, should I make all of them slightly shorter as I did for Cherkasy and Chernihiv oblasts just to make them all structurally similar? I think that would be an improvement, albeit a small one.

• I think the shorter notes you made for Cherkasy/Chernihiv are great but I'd recommend not applying it to the rest of the table for the moment. I'm still planning on getting more insight about how to rework to column as a whole and I don't want you to have to do extra unnecessary work.

And lastly, sure, you can submit the FL nomination soon, that sounds good to me. I think most of the major problems of this list are already solved, it should be good to go in the near future, especially since the entire process could take many weeks as you said. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 06:27, 22 February 2025 (UTC)

I've added a few references to the table and now I realize that it will be extremely difficult (if not impossible) to find sources for all of the populated places. I'll try to find a few more but I definitely won't be able to fill out everything. But on the bright side, I'll be able to look for references for the lead and fix up any other issues sooner. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 12:12, 22 February 2025 (UTC)

Hey Shwabb thought I'd let you know here too I started the FL nomination and also promise I'll reply to the above soonish too :) (hoping to get just a bit more done before replying). Dan the Animator 01:41, 24 February 2025 (UTC)

@Dantheanimator (sorry for the ping), since the table is getting rearranged and the old names are its focus now, do you think the populated places should be alphabetized by the old name (rather than the new name)? The header cells really stand out, so doing that would make sense I think. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 15:03, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

No worries! ;) Yeah, that makes sense to me too. I'm thinking I'll just fix the formatting first the way Cherkasy Oblast is and then after we could alphabetize it. Was meaning to ask too, is the way the admin divisions/Cherkasy Oblast organized alright? Dan the Animator 15:34, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

Yep, the way they're organized looks good to me. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 15:40, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

Wait @Shwabb1: maybe I'm a bit too excited but I think I found one of the best sources for the lead so far. Most of the things it verifies I think we already have references for but it also has additional things and I've only read through a few pages and it's really promising so far. It's a strong source and a secondary one too I think it will help a ton with sourcing the lead and maybe other parts of the list too? Really curious what you think of it... Dan the Animator 04:22, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

Also many thanks with all the references you've found so far! :) It really helps a lot since it can be challenging to find sources in Ukrainian imo and I usually have to rely on Google translate for the process too which slows things down a bit. Dan the Animator 04:29, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, it does cover a lot of the topics, seems like a very good source. Reminds me of the "Collection of materials, recommendations, and documents" (currently reference no. 7) but with much more detail. It also talks about toponyms in general, including streets, buildings, parks, etc, and if I remember correctly we planned to include a mention of the smaller-scale toponyms in the lead and this could serve as a source for that as well. Thanks for finding this.

On another note, I'm not sure if I'll be able to find a specific source about the most common replaced names. The best I've found that is somewhat related is an article from the Ministry of Culture that lists most common replaced names of small-scale toponyms from 2022 (so not the right scope, and outdated). The UINM list isn't a complete source since I still can't find an updated version, so I don't think we should leave it as the only source either. Once in a while I stumble upon a news article that mentions that many 'First of May' settlements were renamed but that only covers one of the many namesakes listed. I'm really not sure what else to search for. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 09:43, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

Yup, thanks for reminding me, I'll add in a little bit about smaller toponym renamings in the lead. About the most common replaced names, don't worry about it. While a source would've been a good addition, it's not required since technically speaking, the table itself verifies this fact (just counting up each of those names shows they're the most commonly replaced names). That said, in my opinion I felt that it was important to have an in-line reference there verifying what each of these names are (e.g. Valery Chkalov being a former Russian test pilot, Gorky an author, Michurin a botanist, 1st of May being celebrated as International Workers' Day, & Suvorov being an imperial general) and also verifying that each of these names have been amongst those affected. I checked against the table and it looks like the UINM list source (#33) verifies all of this so everything with that sentence should be all set! Feel free though to add those news articles you mentioned about the First of May as a commonly changed name if you still have them tho don't worry if not (imo it doesn't hurt to have additional references).

The most important references to find for the lead are ones that can verify the historical renaming periods (basically all the text in "During the Soviet period, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s [...] amongst the first limited derussification as they gained greater autonomy," needs sources).

For with most name changes in the initial decades post-independence resulting from the restoration of pre-Soviet names through local efforts, I added in the full cn tag since I think a ref would be needed for the "through local efforts" part (the rest of the sentence is already covered by the existing refs/the table itself); I thought it was a good thing to mention since I think these are locally-promoted efforts and to contrast with the nature of post-2022 renamings, which are more central government-driven. That said, feel free to comment it out if it seems like there won't be any convenient ref to verify it.

Also important, for with the raions being renamed in response to the name changes of their namesake administrative centers, together with the notes in the admin. divisions table, there should be a reference that verifies that the raions were renamed because of the name change of their admin. center. The law references/table already verify the number of raions/urban districts renamed so the only thing would be to verify the reason for their renaming. there's only a few notes left in the admin divs table needing refs but it's not critical

For the new names for populated places and administrative divisions located in occupied areas have only de jure status while de facto Russian-appointed officials continue to use their pre-derussification names, the ref already there should be fine though I was thinking of maybe adding another ref (maybe from TASS or some other Russian source?) talking specifically about Russian authorities' rejection of derussification (the current source focuses more on decommunization I think).

There's also a few cn tags in the efn notes but most of those need the same refs needed above (for the historical renamings). Let me know what you think about it... Dan the Animator 18:08, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

I've added some comments for some of the unsourced reasons for renaming, as you suggested. However, I'm leaving most of them as is because I'm quite certain that, for example, Michurina is named after Ivan Michurin, or Rosiianivka is named after Russia. It's extremely unlikely (if not impossible) that populated places such as these were renamed for different reasons.

And, you're right, it's also possible that the Petrivske/Petrivka settlements could be named after Grigory Petrovsky or someone else entirely. It's hard to say for sure without a source.

As for the Hungarian names, I believe these are the only laws that returned them. The regional names I mentioned are local names in the Transcarpathian dialect of Ukrainian, including Bodoliv -> Badalovo which is from the 1991 law. There were also more similar changes in the 1995 law, as well as some other ones that were also mostly carried out in the 90s (with the major recent exception of Mukacheve -> Mukachevo in 2017). But if you still want links to those, I can send them to you. Shwabb1 ⟨taco⟩ 06:40, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

Thanks Shwabb!! :) About the unsourced notes, no worries and its fine with me. Regarding sourcing, thanks to all the refs you've found and that Wikisource 1945 Soviet Decree, I think the lead's sourcing is completely finished! (I agree that having a secondary source for western Ukraine post-WWII renamings would be great but how it is now is good enough for the FL in my opinion). The lead definitely still can use some more editing and changes but there shouldn't be anything left with the lead that would hold up the FL nom I think.

About the table, many thanks for adding in the comments! For sourcing, my opinion is all the unique notes that don't have references and/or are potentially contestable should have a source added or just commented out and replaced by the dash like how you did it for Orlov. All the other, more obvious notes can be left for now though of course definitely add in sources for them if you come across any. Scrolling through, I think the unique notes that might have more of a need for references are those for:

• Fyodor Sergeyev, Mikhail Kutuzov, Semyon Chelyuskin, Communards, Decembrist revolt, Neva River, October Revolution? (I have a feeling it wouldn't be too tough to find a ref connecting Zhovtnivka/Zhovtneve to October Rev. because of the earlier decommunization renamings but I didn't check yet), Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, & Ural Mountains

These are just based on what I felt could have some limited ambiguity (like for Krasnoyarsk, it probably is the city though it could be plausible that it's named after something else that also happens to be named after/related to the Russian city?) and considering they're relatively rare though it's just my opinion and some of them might be more/less obvious than I thought.

Also, for the Administrative divisions table, I think it'd be good to find the references for those notes (particularly the one with Rodion Malinovsky since its not on the populated places table) though don't worry if you don't find any sources yet for those notes (most of them are already kind of indirectly covered by the existing sources in my opinion, except for the Malinovsky note).

I think with all the lead references finished, I'll ping back both the reviewers on the FL nom and I think they'll give supports so the nom will continue to advance with more feedback. I'll be a bit caught up with some unavoidable off-wiki things the next few days until this upcoming Wednesday/Thursday so I won't be able to contribute too much until then but I'll make sure to check for any messages/updates so feel free to ping if anything comes up. Dan the Animator 07:05, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

Also, almost forgot to say, I didn't forget about the new alphabetizing! :) It's a bit time consuming to do and since it doesn't affect the FL I don't think, I'm planning on doing it later this week or the week after. Dan the Animator 07:10, 2 March 2025 (UTC)