Comparative analysis of memorial oeconyms and urbanonyms of the Kaliningrad region in historical and linguistic context

INTRODUCTION. The purpose of the research is to compare renaming campaigns of the settlements and streets in the former northern part of East Prussia that formed the Kaliningrad region The focus is on those that either on the original German maps or on the new Soviet maps carry the names of prominent figures from the two respective cultures under consideration.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. While examining 2497 decrees on renaming settlements and 1000 decrees on renaming streets in these settlements, 642 memorial oeconyms and 674 memorial urbanonyms have been identified and consequently subjected to a comparative semantic analysis.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. It is presented that after the renaming the number of memorial oeconym has significantly increased, while the number of memorial urbanonyms remained essentially unchanged. As a result of the renaming dedications to entrepreneurs disappear from the maps, while the number of toponyms derived from the names of military personnel increases. Both spheres compared are characterized by the tendency to immortalize Soviet people on the background of a certain part of nominations formed from surnames of Russian and even Foreign cultural figures. While the original toponymic material is dominated by urbanonyms in honor of local celebrities, the new one, on the contrary, more often associates oikonyms with the culture of the region. The repetition of surnames in the base of onyms is peculiar to both studied time periods and both classes of toponyms.

CONCLUSION. It is concluded that similarities prevail over differences in all points of comparison.