The National Commission for State Language Standards recommends changing the name of Zaporizhia. There they saw a possible relationship with “the imperialist policy of Russia”. Related Recommendations Published On the website of the National Commission.
Zaporozhye is included in the list of settlements whose names “do not match the names of the state language”.
The commission wrote that the name “Zaporysia” “does not meet the lexical norms of the Ukrainian language and may be associated with Russian imperialism and colonialism.”
Local authorities were recommended to justify the possibility of keeping the current name or to propose a new name in accordance with the procedure established by law.
The commission did not explain how the name “Zaporistia” could be connected to Russia’s imperial narratives.
Until March 15, 1921, the city was called Oleksandrivsk after the Oleksandrivsk fortress founded in 1770. There is no clear idea in whose honor the fort was named. The names of Field Marshal Oleksandr Golitsyn or Prince Oleksandr Vyazemsky are mentioned. On March 15, 1921, the Zaporizhia Provincial Executive Committee issued a decree renaming the city of Oleksandrivska to Zaporizhia. The new name was already known among the people and took into account the historical traditions of the region – the city behind the rapids, before the construction of the Dnipro HPP dam in 1932, the numerous rapids of the Dnieper were an obstacle. Navigation, done.
Also Read: Tolstoy Square Becomes Ukrainian Heroes Square: Kyiv City Council Approves 16 Name Changes
