Technically, the name was returned on September 6, 1991 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, so it was not the post USSR Russian Government.

Anyway, the referendum "On the return of the historical name of St. Petersburg to the city of Leningrad" was held in June 1991, simultaneously with the election of the mayor of the city. With a total turnout of 64%, 54% of the voters supported the renaming and 42% were against.

According to Aleksey Kovalev, who was in 1991 a deputy of the Leningrad City Council and the author of the wording of the question included in the referendum ballot, a choice between more than two options (Leningrad, Saint Petersburg, Petrograd, Svyato-Petrograd, Nevagrad, etc.) would have prevented the proponents of the renaming from gaining majority.

“We voted for different formulations. If we had proposed three or four options, none of them would have gained an overwhelming majority, and we would be left with nothing. It was necessary to give a visible alternative, and my formulation solved this issue."

The main unofficial name of St. Petersburg - Piter (Russian: Питер) appeared shortly after its foundation as an abbreviation. Although the name originated among the workers who built the city, in the 18th century it was already used in literature, letters and memoirs. With the renaming of the city to Petrograd and later to Leningrad, the word “Piter” did not go anywhere and has not been replaced by "Petr" or "Lenin" - even Stalin continued to use it. The name Petrograd was also not particularly popular in 1914-1924, especially among the intelligentsia, as anti-historical and unoriginal.