Last name

As far as I can tell, in the 17th century this area was a wasteland between the river and slobodas on Yakimanka - Inozemnaya (Panskaya) and Golutvennaya. Most likely, there really were meadows and vegetable gardens.

There are three versions of the name. They are all unproven and unconfirmed, so choose to your liking.

Engineering version: baba is a piling hammer. The banks of the Moskva River were allegedly strengthened with piles by means of baba, hence the name of the area. Question: is this the only place where the bank was strengthened?

A patriotic version: in 1382 Tokhtamysh suddenly moved on Moscow. Dmitry Donskoy left for Kostroma to gather reinforcements, and the Moscow governor did not allow a group of women to take refuge in the Kremlin for fear of starvation. Then they allegedly fortified themselves on the river bank and fought off the Tatars.