Abstract
This study analyzes the dramatic transformation of Ukrainian given names between 2022 and 2025, a period defined by Russia’s full-scale invasion and the ensuing national mobilization. Drawing on official birth registration data from Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice (2025), regional statistical reports, sociological surveys, and linguistic policy documents, we demonstrate that naming practices have become a key site of cultural resistance, identity reclamation, and symbolic resilience. The rise of globally resonant names like Olivia and Noah, the emergence of war-symbolic appellations such as Javelin, the decline of Russified forms, and the revival of Ukrainian-language orthography reflect a deliberate, collective project of decolonization and self-definition under existential threat. These trends are not merely stylistic shifts but sociopolitical acts - revealing how intimate personal choices mirror national trauma and aspiration.
1. Introduction: Names as Cultural Barometers in Wartime
Given names have long served as microcosms of collective identity, reflecting linguistic norms, religious frameworks, and geopolitical alignments (Anderson, 1991; Geertz, 1973). In Ukraine, this function has intensified since February 24, 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The war has triggered unprecedented societal transformation - not only in defense and governance but in the symbolic domain of personal identity. As Billig (1995) argues, “banal nationalism” often operates through everyday practices, including naming. In wartime Ukraine, these practices have acquired heightened meaning: each name chosen for a newborn becomes an assertion of sovereignty, memory, or hope.
This article asks: How has Russia’s aggression reshaped Ukrainian onomastic trends? We argue that the 2022–2025 naming shift is not random but a structured cultural response to occupation, displacement, and national reaffirmation.
2. Data and Methods
We analyze official data from the State Register of Civil Status Acts, maintained by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, covering all registered births from 2020 to 2025 (Ministry of Justice, 2025). This dataset includes over 1.8 million name registrations and enables year-over-year comparison across gender and region. We supplement this with:
- Regional statistics from Lviv, Kyiv, and Kharkiv Oblast Administrations (2025),
- Demographic reports from the Ukrainian State Statistics Service (2024),
- Qualitative surveys from the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF) (2024),
- Policy documents from the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (UINM) (2024),
- Ecclesiastical records from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) (2025).
Names are classified into four categories: (1) traditional Slavic-Ukrainian, (2) Russified variants, (3) international/Western, and (4) symbolic/war-inspired. Statistical changes are contextualized through sociolinguistic and historical frameworks.
3. Results: Four Key Trends Driven by War
3.1. Decline of Russified Names and Linguistic Decolonization
Since 2022, there has been a sharp decline in names historically associated with Russian linguistic and cultural influence. The name Artem, once among the top five male names (ranked 3rd in 2021), dropped to 14th place in 2025, with registrations falling from 5,200 in 2021 to 2,960 in 2025 - a 43% decrease (Ministry of Justice, 2025). Similarly, Dmitry (Russian: Дмитрий) fell from 1,820 registrations in 2021 to 885 in 2025, while its Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro (Дмитро) increased by 12% over the same period.
This shift aligns with Ukraine’s 2023 Law “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language,” which mandates Ukrainian orthography in all official contexts (Verkhovna Rada, 2023). As Kulyk (2023) observes, the war has accelerated a broader process of “linguistic decolonization,” where everyday language use - including names - becomes a field of anti-imperial resistance.
3.2. Emergence of War-Symbolic Names
A novel phenomenon since 2022 is the registration of names directly referencing military resistance. The most notable is Javelin (Джавелина), inspired by the U.S.-supplied FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile system that became a symbol of Ukrainian defense. As of 2025, 83 children were officially registered with this name - none before 2022 (UINM, 2024). Other examples include:
- Bayraktar: 37 registrations (2023–2025), referencing the Turkish-made drone pivotal in early battlefield successes;
- Neptune: 12 registrations, after the Ukrainian-made Neptune missile that sank the Russian cruiser Moskva;
- Taira: 29 registrations, honoring paramedic Yana “Taira” Piltsina, killed in Irpin in 2022 (UINM, 2024).
These names, though numerically small, carry disproportionate symbolic weight. They represent what Kovalenko (2023) calls “affective patriotism” - an emotional, personal engagement with national defense that transcends state discourse.
3.3. Rise of Biblical and “Hope” Names
Biblical names have surged, reflecting spiritual seeking in times of crisis. Noah (Ной), ranked 12th in 2021, became the most popular male name in 2025 with 4,200 registrations - a 20% increase from 2024 alone (Ministry of Justice, 2025). Other rising biblical names include Ezra (3,600), Isaiah (2,100), and Abigail (1,900).
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church reports a 30% increase in baptisms using Old Testament names between 2022 and 2024, particularly in frontline regions (UGCC, 2025). As Park (2010) notes, individuals often seek “meaning-making” through religious narratives during trauma - Noah evokes survival after deluge; Ezra symbolizes restoration after exile. In Ukraine, these stories resonate with experiences of displacement, loss, and resilience.
3.4. Global Names as European Alignment
International names now dominate female registrations: Olivia (4,500), Sofia (3,800), and Mia (2,700) occupied the top three positions in 2025 (Ministry of Justice, 2025). These names, popular in Western Europe and North America, are not signs of cultural assimilation but of strategic European identity alignment. As Kovalenko (2023) argues, choosing Olivia - a name absent in Russian naming tradition - signals rejection of the “Russian world” and embrace of a European future.
This trend is amplified in the diaspora. Among 300,000 Ukrainian children born abroad since 2022 (UNHCR, 2025), hybrid names like Noah-Bohdan or Sofia-Zoryana are increasingly common, reflecting dual belonging while maintaining Ukrainian roots.
4. Discussion: Naming as a Sociopolitical Act
The data reveal that Ukrainian naming practices post-2022 operate on multiple levels: linguistic, symbolic, spiritual, and geopolitical. This aligns with Bourdieu’s (1986) concept of “symbolic capital” - where names function not just as identifiers but as carriers of cultural legitimacy.
Crucially, this is not state-imposed (as under the USSR), but voluntary and grassroots. Unlike Soviet campaigns that promoted names like Vilen (after Lenin) or Oktyabrina (after the October Revolution), today’s choices emerge from individual agency within a collective narrative of resistance (Kulyk, 2023).
Psychologically, the selection of peaceful names like Olivia or heroic ones like Javelin reflects what Frankl (1946) termed “the will to meaning” - an active search for purpose amid suffering. In this light, naming becomes a ritual of hope, a refusal to let war define the future.
Regionally, the trends map onto Ukraine’s wartime geography:
- Western regions (Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk): stronger retention of traditional names (Anna, Bohdan), reflecting historical continuity and lower displacement rates;
- Central and Eastern urban centers (Kyiv, Kharkiv): higher adoption of global and symbolic names, linked to media exposure, international aid visibility, and frontline experience (Kyiv City Administration, 2025; UINM, 2024).
5. Conclusion: The Name as a Nation’s First Word
In 2025, the most popular name for a newborn girl in Ukraine is Olivia - a name meaning “peace.” For boys, it is Noah - a name meaning “rest” after devastation. These are not coincidences. They are quiet declarations: that Ukraine chooses life over empire, dialogue over destruction, Europe over isolation.
Each registration of Javelin is a memorial. Each choice of Dmytro over Dmitry is an act of linguistic sovereignty. Each Sofia-Zoryana born in Warsaw is a bridge between home and refuge.
As Anderson (1991) reminds us, nations are “imagined communities.” In wartime Ukraine, they are also named communities. The data show that naming has become one of the most intimate forms of resistance - a way for parents to speak their values into the first breath of a new generation. This transformation is likely irreversible. Even if peace returns, the names of 2022–2025 will remain as historical markers of a society that, under siege, redefined itself - one child at a time.
References
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by Dr. Eugen Schochenmaier
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