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Similarly, the parents refer to their children as "perkele".

Yes, I know it's a Finnish word, but it seems to be well-known..

Not to say it's not true, but I've never ever come across these people who do it. Could it be a regional thing?

I've mostly seen it on wykop.pl (a website, it's like reddit had kids with 4chan).

Here some people try to trace it: http://www.wykop.pl/wpis/6202818/kto-mowi-do-swojej-mamy-mam...

Now this explains a lot; like many major forum sites, Wykop tends to develop its own exclusive microculture, slang, wordplays etc. and it's not representative of everyday language, such as calling women "pink" for example, who does that in real life.

A few commenters in the link you pasted actually recognize this figure of speech as sort of a local meme.

Still an interesting phenomenon I agree, although probably temporary and of limited scope.

I’d never consider it Yiddish influence to be honest.

well, it is.