The original name of the settlement in the Middle Ages was Leskovec. Later the name of settlement changed to Sv. Peter after the local church. The name was preserved through centuries until the Second World War. During the Nazi occupation of the Slovenian, Styrian was part of the area that the Nazis devoted to settling with German colonists, it was temporarily renamed to Königsberg am Sattelbach. Immediately after the war, its old Slovenian name was restored, but only until 1952. At that time, the settlement was renamed Bistrica ob Sotli on the basis of the “Law on the Naming of Seats and Marking of Markets, Streets and Buildings” in 1948. The renaming of many other places throughout Slovenia in the post-war period, the renaming of St. Peter under the Holy Mountains was part of an extensive campaign to remove all religious elements from the toponyms of Slovenian places.
Vigilant Knight 