frunze

Frunze is a surname associated with Mikhail Vasilievich Frunze (1885–1925), a Bolshevik military leader and early Soviet official. He held command roles in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War and became a prominent figure in the Soviet military establishment. Following his death in 1925, several places and institutions were named in his honor.

In the Soviet era, the city of Frunze served as the capital of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic from 1926 until 1991. Today it is known as Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is located in northern Kyrgyzstan along the Chu River, at the northern edge of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too mountain range. The city was renamed Bishkek in 1991 after Kyrgyzstan gained independence from the Soviet Union.

The name Frunze also appears in other toponyms and institutional names across the former Soviet Union, often in the adjectival form Frunzensky or Frunze-, used for districts, streets, and other urban features. This reflects the historical prominence of Mikhail Frunze in Soviet-era memory and place-naming.