Vasya Pupkin

Vasya Pupkin (Russian: Вася Пупкин) recently a humorous internet meme being a collective non-existent russian name mostly used to misidentify some person, sometimes having a negative connotation.

Information about the appearance of this meme, as a separate concept, is still unknown, but in 1986 such a surname was already mentioned in a USSR theater scene, meaning same way as now - a certain abstract personality, to which, in turn, there is a deliberately negative attitude.^[1]

In 1989, in the USSR, the meme was used to describe some abstract trader in an investment textbook, which, despite the excellent absolute result, "have everything is not so clear-cut" meaning it can be much worse than it looks at his business, that way frightening the reader with possible investment failure, which, in general, also corresponds to the recent definition.^[2] A similar negative, but much sharper, connotation of the meme, consisting in its direct semantic link to capitalism, describing Vasya Pupkin as a "standard factor of capitalism production", is also can be found in Russian artistic works of 1997.^[3]

Unrelated to capitalism, but still a negative connotation of the meme, aimed at defining an meme holder as "upstart"/"non-conformist", can be found at russian publications in the years of 1991^[4] and 1998.^[5]

However, at the same time - in 1992 and 1996 - the meme was used to describe exclusively an abstract personality without any negative connotations.^[6][7]

In 2005 "Vasya Pupkin" phenomenon was heavily discussed at issue #97 of Novaya Gazeta^[8] including a comprehensive comparison with Putin ("VP vs VVP"):^[9]

• Russian sociologist Alexey Levinson stated this name despite having similar to Putin popularity at the Russia assumed that the name still derogatory, as it's last name being a "the surname of a person who comes from the lowest social classes" and first name is "something common", "socially inferior to us", and mostly means a "loser", "a person uneducated and intellectually inferior to the one telling about", the "one who occupies a low social position", in other words means "personal slave". His colleague formulated that character like as person ideal for scapegoating.^[10]
• Other article there describes the meme character very vividly as "a small man with unsecured ambitions. And that means: a dangerous figure".^[11]

In 2006 it was used as naming example both of some abstract person and email ID at some manual.^[12]

In 2008-2009 russian philologist Lutovinova Olga Vasilevna along with Shushpanchik and Wugluskr (Russian: Вуглускр) described it as wide-spread internet meme.^[13][14]

In 2015 it's last name was described as "the surname of an abstract sailor. As a rule, a stupid, nasty, cowardly person".^[15]

In 2023 meme was briefly described by Eliot Borenstein as similar to John Doe or Joe Blow common for exclusively virtual use as a shorthand.^[16]

• Bulă, a stock character in Romanian comedy, was voted the 51st among the 100 Greatest Romanians in 2006
• Yakitori: Soldiers of Misfortune novel, where's a similar character Vasha Pupkin (ヴァーシャパプキン, Bāsha Papukin) have place