One of the key elements of Ukrainian identity is the so-called “Myth of the Stolen Name.” The essence of this myth is that several centuries ago, the terms Rus and Rusyns were exclusively used to refer to Ukraine and Ukrainians, while Russians called themselves Muscovites and their country Muscovy. This continued until Tsar Peter I, by some secret decree that no one has seen but which all Ukrainians know about, suddenly renamed Muscovy to Russia. Currently, this myth is very popular in Ukraine, and its supporters occasionally propose initiatives to “revert” the name of Russia back to Muscovy or Ukraine to Rus. However, there is one important point in these initiatives: while insisting on the “return of the historical name to the Ukrainian people,” proponents seem to overlook the fact that in the past, “Ukrainians” also identified themselves as Cossacks, Little Russians, South Russians, and even… khokhly! Yes, “khokhly” was one of the main self-designations of the people who now identify as Ukrainians, and who seek to reclaim the historical name “Rusyns,” but for some reason shy away from historical names like “khokhly” and “Little Russians.”
Certainly, the term “khokhol” is a borrowing, like many other words in the Ukrainian language, and it originates from the Russian language. Russians began to refer to the inhabitants of the southeastern regions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as “khokhly” in the early 17th century, likely due to a characteristic hairstyle that the ancestors of Ukrainians adopted from Turkic tribes. The word “khokhol” first appears in the “Chronicle” by the scribe Ivan Timofeev (1609) and in the “Charter of the Zemsky Authorities of Yaroslavl” (1611).
Initially, this word had a somewhat derogatory connotation; in 1621, a Russian voivode wrote to his colleagues on the other side of the Russo-Polish border: “…you unbaptized, filthy khokhly, servants of Satan, grandchildren of Ham…”. The Ukraino-Turkic hairstyle that gave rise to the ethnonym was also perceived negatively by Russians—Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich addressed the Orthodox Christians of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1654 with the following words:
“And you, Orthodox Christians, having freed yourselves from the wicked, may live in peace and prosperity; and as many of you as the Lord God has raised up for that good work, before our royal coming, separate yourselves from the Poles, as in faith, so in action, you trim the Khokhols on your heads.”
Over time, the negative connotation of this word significantly diminished, and the khokhly themselves began to willingly adopt this ethnonym from the Russians—starting in the 18th century, “Ukrainians” happily referred to themselves as khokhly, and this became the primary tribal name in the Russian part of Ukraine. Nikolai Kostomarov testifies:
“I would like to note that among all the names that have been invented for the Southern Russian people to distinguish them from the Great Russians, the term “khokhol” has taken on the most complete significance—not due to its etymology, but because of the habit with which the Great Russians have adopted it. Among all the existing nicknames and names, this is perhaps the most widely accepted in terms of national identity. Not only do the Great Russians refer to the Southern Russians as “khokhly,” but the latter often use this name themselves, no longer suspecting any mockery in it, especially in the eastern regions populated by Southern Russians.”
At the same time, Russians have always referred to themselves exclusively as Russians or Rusyns. No Russian in the 17th, 18th, or 19th centuries used terms like “Moscovite,” “Moskals,” “Katsap,” or similar “ancient” self-designations, as claimed in Ukrainian folklore history. This applies to both common people and nobility, including well-known figures like Pushkin, Karamzin, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky. In contrast, Ukrainians, even those whom they consider their intelligentsia in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, willingly referred to themselves as “khokhly.” For example, the pioneer of Ukrainian literature, Ivan Kotlyarevsky, also used this term in reference to his fellow countrymen:
According to our Khokhol system
You will not be a goat, nor a she-goat,
But certainly an ox…
(“Aeneid“)
The term “khokhol” was used by the Little Russian with Polish roots, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol-yanovsky, who is considered “outrageously stolen from the Russians”:
“I do not even know what my soul is—Khokhol or Russian. I only know that I would never give preference to a Little Russian over a Russian, nor to a Russian over a Little Russian.”
(Letter to Smirnova-Rosset dated December 12 (24), 1844)
And now sit down. The main classic of Ukrainian literature and national hero of Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko, never referred to himself as a Ukrainian in his lifetime, but he repeatedly called himself and his fellow countrymen “khokhol”:
“Once he decided to bring sugar sand to Moscow; only Moscow doesn’t like to joke with our brother Khokhol.”
Although it is called Gerbel, it is the same gray Khokhol as you and me, my young friend.
(Letter to A.M. Markevich, 22 April 1857)
I don’t know for sure what I owe it that I haven’t even been promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer for ten years. Is it because of the stubborn antipathy I feel towards this privileged class? Or because of my imperturbable Khokhol stubbornness?
(Diary entry for June 19, 1857)
Even at the beginning of the XX century, the word “khokhol” continued to be one of the main self-names of Ukrainians; Petliura ataman Yuri Tyutyunnik testifies – in 1917, he was actively involved in the formation of Ukrainian military units from soldiers from all the Little Russian provinces:
About seven thousand arrived. Opening the meeting, I suggested:
-Who among you are Ukrainians, raise your hand!
No more than three hundred hands went up.
-Little Russians! Raise your hands!
About half of those gathered raised their hands.
-Khokhols! Raise your hands!
A good third raised their hands again.
-Ukrainians, Little Russians and crests! Raise your hands all together!
A forest of hands went up over the heads of the crowd of several thousand.
In the significant year of 1917, the term “khokhol” was among the three most frequently used self-designations for Ukrainians, alongside the literary term “Maloross” and the politically charged “Ukrainian.” However, as time has progressed, the descendants of khokhols and Malorosses in contemporary Ukraine have come to view these historical self-designations as pejorative, often feeling uneasy when addressed by the ancestral names of their forebears. Maybe, in today’s era of global changes it is time to show Ukrainians their true side of history, which the government is hiding from them.
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