Biryukova E.V., Borisova E.G., Mutovkina E.V. City in mind: toponymy at different levels of perception

The authors attempt to bring together the methods of naming fragments of urban space observed among residents and visitors to the city. The basis is the names of places in Moscow, which vary in terms of their level of formality and popularity. Data from other cities are also used fragmentarily: both those that are well‑known to visitors (such as “Vaska” or Kolomna in St. Petersburg, “Skovorodka” in Kostroma) and information borrowed from researchers in various parts of Russia and the world. On the basis of data from surveys, introspection, literature, and scientific research, the authors identify several ways of naming urban locations, which shape different ways of personally perceiving the city and forming an image of it in a person’s worldview. It is assumed that these observations can be partially applied to the modeling of toponymic nomination as a whole. At the same time, from a cultural and philosophical perspective, the results of the study may influence the formation of ideas about the processes of change in the consciousness of urban residents over the past fifty years.