Exotic, revolutionary names were much in fashion in the 1920s: Elektron, Edison, Barrikada, Iskra (for the Bolsheviks’ prerevolutionary newspaper, The Spark), Kim (the Russian acronym for “Communist Youth International”), and the like. In the 1930s, such names became less popular, with the exception of a few Lenin derivatives like Vladlen (Vladimir Lenin) and the graceful Ninel. A few people called their daughters Stalina or Stalinka. But this was not very common, and there was no boom in the name Iosif (Stalin’s first name) for boys.
