What's in a Prague street name

Every street in Prague, one by one.

  • Prague 4, day 322: U vodotoku

    U vodotoku was built in 1935. U Vodotoku (which we’d translate as something like ‘watercourse’) is a pond on the Zátišský stream, created in the 1960s at the same time as many surrounding housing estates. Given the dates, we have to assume that the street was named after the various waterways round here, and the… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 321: Nad koupadly

    Nad koupadly was built in 1935. We’ve been near the bathing area round here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/02/22/prague-4-day-317-u-lazni/. We’ve then been near it again: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/02/24/prague-4-day-319-u-koupadel/. And now we’re above it. Remind me to take some more pictures round here in the summer, it’s probably quite a different experience. Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 320: Židlického

    Židlického was built in 1986. Vlasta Židlický was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and, during WW2, was a member of the illegal Union of Friends of the Soviet Union (Svazu přátel Sovětského svazu). Due to his opposition to the Nazi occupation, he was executed on 6 February 1944. Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 319: U koupadel

    U koupadel was built in 1935. ‘Koupadla’ are ‘baths’, as in the outdoor ones you would go to swim in, rather than the indoor ones that you want to lie in for hours on end after having a bit of a day of it at work (I’m in that place today). See also: ‘koupaliště’. And… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 318: U propusti

    U propusti was built in 1935. A ‘propust’ is a sluice, i.e. a sliding gate or other device used to control the flow of water. It can also be translated as, yes, ‘floodgate’. This is relevant here, because the street is (kind of) located between the swimming baths discussed yesterday on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/02/22/prague-4-day-317-u-lazni/ and the Lhotka… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 317: U lázní

    U lázní was built in 1938. ‘Lázně’ (plural) would translate as ‘spa’, ‘watering place’ or ‘health resort’ (all singular). You will most likely know this from trips to Karlovy Vary (hotel view from summer 2021, and therefore my first night away from home for about ten months, below). Prague is not without its lázně (or… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 316: Nad Zátiším

    Nad Zátiším was built in 1941. Just because we’re out of Hodkovičky doesn’t mean we’ve left all our Hodkovičky habits behind: this street is ‘above’ Zátiší, as discussed on on day 301 (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/02/05/prague-4-day-301-k-zatisi/). And 305. and 306. Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 315: Ve Lhotce

    Ve Lhotce was built around 1935. Welcome to Lhotka! And where better to start than with a street that is quite literally In It? Lhotka is mentioned in a text from 1245, stating that it belonged, at the time, to the Vyšehrad Chapter (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-118-vysehradska/). It’s not clear when the village was founded, but we know… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 314: Lodnická

    Lodnická was built in 1998. We’re ending our walk around Hodkovičky with some very similar content to, among others, https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/30/prague-4-day-245-ledarska/, https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/01/24/prague-4-day-289-sifarska/ and https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/02/12/prague-4-day-308-senacka/. Because we’re still by the Vltava (on which: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/01/21/prague-4-day-286-vltavanu/), and a ‘lodník’ is a sailor, a seaman, or – in ‘words in my own language I’d never heard until today’ news –… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 313: Mezi stráněmi

    Mezi stráněmi was built in 1935. A ‘stráň’ is a hillside or a slope, and the street is between (‘mezi’) two of them). Other words that we’ve come across before that have the same meaning as ‘stráň’ include svah (as in https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/07/01/prague-4-day-133-ve-svahu/ and https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/21/prague-4-day-236-pod-svahem/). As well as ‘úbočí’, which doesn’t have any streets named after… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 312: V Hodkovičkách

    V Hodkovičkách was built in 1927. Until 1935, it was called U rybníka, after a pond which was once in the centre of Hodkovičky, but now isn’t there at all. There are only two streets left in Hodkovičky before we move on to Lhotka, but somehow we’ve left it until now to discuss the place… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 311: Nad pruhy

    Nad pruhy was built in 1935. A ‘pruh’ is a strip, a stripe, a band or a lane. This street has its name due to its location near strips of fields. For fans of pruh-related vocabulary, a ‘silniční pruh’ or a ‘jízdní pruh’ is a traffic lane. Specific lanes include a ‘předjížděcí pruh’ (overtaking lane), ‘odbočovací… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 310: Nad hájem

    Nad hájem was built in 1930. Very easy one today: ‘Nad hájem’ is, quite literally, above a grove. Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 309: Půlnoční

    Půlnoční was built in 1973. Continuing (and completing) the ‘times of day’ series last seen on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/02/03/prague-4-day-299-vecerni/, ‘půlnoční’ is the adjective from ‘půlnoc’, literally ‘half night’ and therefore midnight. Outside of its literal meaning, the most likely place in which you’ve heard the word ‘půlnoc’ is in relation to the band of the same name,… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 308: Šenácká

    Šenácká was built in 2023. Making it younger than this series. The internet tells me that a ‘šenák’ is a small rowing boat which is manned by two or three ‘plavci’, literally ‘swimmers’, or, in the Vltava context, the people responsible for floating wood across the Vltava when this was a mainstay of the local economy.… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 307: Na dubině

    Na dubině was built in 1925. I said there’d be a new story today. It turns out that I lied. ‘Dubina’ is an oak forest, and we’ve been here before: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/02/06/prague-4-day-302-k-dubinam/. I promise that tomorrow’s post is completely new and not a dubina, a zátiší or a lysina. Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 306: U Zátiší

    U Zátiší was built in 2007. Yes, another one after K and V (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/02/05/prague-4-day-301-k-zatisi/). There’ll be a new story tomorrow (maybe). Although this does have the distinction of being the first of the 956 streets that I’ve written about that was built in 2007. And, in fact, the first to be built between 1999 and… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 305: V Zátiší

    V Zátiší was built in 1925. It was looking a bit slippery when I was round here, so here you can see the street at the end, rather than a street sign. I did say that there would be a set (four, I currently believe) of Zátiší-based streets, and, as this is the second of them,… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 304: Československého exilu

    Československého exilu was built in 1979. Unsurprisingly, the street was not called that in the still-a-decade-of-Communism-to-go days of 1979. Instead, it was called what is basically the exact opposite of condemning the harsher sides of communism: it was named Pětiletky, a ‘pětiletka’ being a five-year plan. There was a bit of a time lag between… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 303: Pod Lysinami

    Pod Lysinami was built in 1991. I did warn that there would be a bit of repetition in the next few days, so feel free to go and find out why this area was named Lysiny by clicking on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/01/28/prague-4-day-293-na-lysinach/ (which we already had to recycle on day 294). Pod Lysinami had the dubious opportunity… Continue reading