It was created as communist-approved alternative to KUL(Catholic University of Lublin - the only university independent from communist government in 1944-1989 Poland). Now it's the other way around (KUL is heavily influenced by catholic church, and umcs is more-or-less independent).
BTW - my university uses French order of writting Maria name "Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie". Maria sometimes used French order (with husband surname first), and sometimes used Polish order (with husband surname second), but rarely skipped "Skłodowska" altogether.
