What's in a Prague street name

Na Hřebenech II was built in 1941.

The street, obviously, got its name from the same source as Na hřebenech I (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/12/prague-4-day-115-na-hrebenech-i/).

So let’s talk about the western part of Pankrác Plain, known as Kavčí hory, instead.

A ‘kanec’ is a wild boar. According to Czech mythology, a man called Bivoj caught a ‘kanec’ in the hills round here, and carried it to Vyšehrad in the hope that he would win the hand of Kazi, who was one of the daughters of Krok (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/22/prague-2-day-90-krokova/).

Another of Krok’s daughters, Libuše, is credited with predicting the future existence of Prague: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/23/prague-2-day-93-libusina/.

Bivoj’s attempt to win Kazi’s hand was successful, and their son, Rodislav, incorporated a boar into his coat of arms to commemorate his father’s act.

Bivoj’s name has also been given to a small asteriod, discovered by Czech astronomer Antonín Mrkos in 1980: https://www.spacereference.org/asteroid/5797-bivoj-1980-aa.

By the 1800s, the area was known as ‘Kavčí hory’ (the noun from which the adjective derives is ‘kavka’, ‘jackdaw’). Not sure if there is anything jackdaw-specific to talk about, or if the name just became corrupted over time.

Say Kavčí hory to most locals, and they will automatically think of the headquarters of Czech Television, the country’s state broadcaster. There’s plenty to say about that, but I’m saving it for some of the other… less interesting street names that are coming up.