The article is devoted to the principles of tropological substitutions of a proper name in Russian poetry of the 18th century. As examples, the authors take various forms of the naming of two historical characters, Grigory Potemkin (1739–1791) and Emelyan Pugachev (1742– 1775), and analyze three types of tropological substitutions: antonomasia, impersonation, and paraphrase. Potemkin’s naming methods are diverse. Th e most common is calling the hero by his last name, sometimes with the addition of a title or military rank. Th e appearance of tropological substitutions — fi rst of all, of the most diverse paraphrases — is associated with the glorifi cation of him as a commander, statesman and patron of the arts. Sometimes the very name “Potemkin” becomes antonomasia, meaning ‘formidable military leader’. Th e surname “Pugachev”, as well as the hypocoristic name “Emelka”, are oft en used in an extended metonymic sense: ‘Pugachev and his army’. Th e historical character himself is oft en referred to through periphrases and antonomasias, and only occasionally by his last name. In Sumarokov’s and Derzhavin’s works, Pugachev is compared with the famous impostors of the past – Razin, Otrepiev, Smerdis. Several appellatives used in poetic texts are also recorded in offi cial documents of the 1770s, including Pugachev’s verdict. Th e presented material demonstrates that semantic rethinking of a personal name is associated with the assimilation of one character to another. Th e idea is realized in personifi cations, periphrases, and antonomasias. Tropological substitutions of personal names in Russian poetry of the 18th century allow the panegyric poetry to form an image of an ideal reality, and the invective poetry allows to realize the function of denunciation