Ideology, toponymy, politics of memory: The history of renaming in the Baltic countries

The article presents an analysis of the toponymy of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in historical retrospect and the relationship with local memory politics. The practice of changing geographical names was carried out and continues to be carried out in line with the Baltic historical policy and such fundamental components as ethnocentrism, the fight against the consequences of “Soviet occupation” and decommunization. At the same time, toponymy was transformed most uniformly and consistently in Estonia and Latvia, due to similar historical development. The dynamics of changes in Lithuanian geographical objects are more specific due to the experience of their own statehood in the person of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as well as changes in borders in 1939.