 In 1935, the town was renamed Kalinino by the Soviets, in honor of the Bolshevik revolutionary Mikhail Kalinin.With the independence of Armenia in 1991, the town was renamed Tashir after the historic Armenian region of Tashir, a canton within the Gugark province; the 13th province of the historic Greater Armenia.The name of "Tashir" – known as "Tashiri" in neighboring Georgia – is known since classical antiquity, referring to the plateau between the Debed and Pambak rivers.