Same in Poland, though it’s not about town names (almost none was even changed in socialism, one notable was Katowice to Stalinogród in 1953 but it was turned back in 1956) but streets, it came to the point where even the rightwing, in some cases even PiS city councils protested the wide namechanges and even went to court with it and the court restricted it a little.
What Bakhmut? Its name is Artemovsk, city hall changed the name a few days ago
The name change to Bakhmut seemed to be unpopular locally, even the local volleybal team is named “Bakhmut Artemovsk”
Most of those recent namechanges were unpopular (and costed a shitload of money). The locals had no say in the matter tho.
Same in Poland, though it’s not about town names (almost none was even changed in socialism, one notable was Katowice to Stalinogród in 1953 but it was turned back in 1956) but streets, it came to the point where even the rightwing, in some cases even PiS city councils protested the wide namechanges and even went to court with it and the court restricted it a little.