Toponymic Commission: it is necessary to rename 30 streets in Mykolaiv which names are related to Russia

In Mykolaiv, the commission for renaming streets found more than 30 toponyms that contained Russianisms and did not meet the modern requirements of the Ukrainian language.

Oleksandr Trygub, the head of the toponymy commission, announced this in an interview on the MART TV channel, NikVesti reports.

Oleksandr Trygub, the head of the street renaming commission, said that the members of the commission appealed to the Institute of Linguistics and the Ukrainian Language Commission regarding already renamed streets in Mykolaiv, such as Pohranychna, Nikolska and Kuznetsova.

In particular, experts confirmed that the name of Kuznetsova street has the wrong word form, so it was decided to rename the street to Kovalska.

«The number of such toponyms reached more than 30, maybe even close to forty. Inquiries were sent to the Institute of Linguistics and the Ukrainian Language Commission. We received unequivocal answers such as Kuznetsova Street is subject to renaming, because the etymology is clearly in honor of the profession of blacksmiths («koval» (ukr.), — note). Although there is a word «kuznia» in the Ukrainian language. That is, a decision was made to rename this street to Kovalska,» he noted.

As for the name of Nikolska Street, there are disagreements about its etymology. Although the name was originally associated with the St. Nicholas Church, the commission decided to keep the old name. Instead of the proposed Mykilska, which was recommended by the Institute of Linguistics, the commission decided to keep the name, but to explain it through the popular term «Niko» among Mykolaiv residents in 2022 (that's how the townspeople call Mykolaiv, — note).

«Nikolska Street caused such a lively discussion. Why? First, the etymology of the name comes from the church of St. Nicholas. Therefore, the Institute of Linguistics and other advisers definitely recommended renaming it to Mykilsk. But one of the members of the commission suggested keeping the old version of the name, since in 2022 the term «Niko» was quite popular among Mykolaiv residents. Therefore, we kept the name of the street, but the explanation of this name will be different,» he noted.

At the same time, they decided to leave Pohranychna Street unchanged, since the term «borderland» (pohranychchia (ukr.) — note) is found in Hrinchenko's dictionary and has the appropriate meaning.

«Pohranychna Street, here I personally noted that in Hrinchenko's dictionary there is such a term as «pohranychchia». It means a certain limit of something. And from this term, the street name Pohranychna is absolutely adequate, that's why we kept this name,» Oleksandr Tryhub summarized.

Law on decolonization in Mykolaiv

In April 2023, the Mykolaiv City Council adopted a new regulation on renaming toponyms in order to get rid of all Russian names in the city.

Also, the deputy commission on legality approved a new version of the regulation on the activities of the commission on toponymy, which was engaged in street renaming.

In particular, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych reported that there was a commission on toponymy in the city, which was engaged in renaming streets, but as of today, its composition needs to be updated.

However, in August it became known that the toponymic commission has not yet started working. Due to the withdrawal of one of the candidates, the deputies of the city council had to update the composition of the commission.

At the session on September 7, deputies of the Mykolaiv City Council approved the new composition of the toponymic commission. Major General Dmytro Marchenko was included in it, but with the note «by agreement».

The very name of Dmytro Marchenko became one of those in honor of which the people of Mykolaiv propose to rename the streets of the city. The offer was submitted by 32 respondents. However , the general himself opposed such an idea.

In October 2023, the toponymic commission published the first proposals for renaming streets as part of the decolonization process.

In particular, the head of the culture department of the Mykolaiv city council, who is also a member of the toponymy commission, Yurii Liubarov, said that Falieievska street, named after the city's first citizen, does not fall under the renaming law.

In January 2024, the work of the Toponymy Commission was completed in Mykolaiv — about 250 streets are being prepared for renaming. The head of the commission Oleksandr Tryhub told which streets will get new names according to modern Ukrainian spelling and historical context. In particular, among the central streets, Liahin, Pushkinska, Potemkinska and Admiral Makarov streets will receive new names.

In particular, the commission proposed, as part of the decolonization process, to rename 40 streets with the names of those who died in the Russian-Ukrainian war.