What's in a Prague street name
Every street in Prague, one by one.
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I could talk about myself for ages, or I could point out that https://english.radio.cz/ed-ley-englishman-recording-stories-pragues-streets-one-one-8806941 is over two years old but still largely stands (other than the Twitter links).
Author: Ed
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Za pruhy was built in 1938. ‘Pruhy’ are ‘strips’, ‘bands’, or ‘lanes’. In this case, the street is named after the kind of strips that you will find in, or separating, individual fields. We’re not far from Braník here, and we’re next to a main road that is also named after a ‘pruh’: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/10/22/prague-4-day-206-zeleny-pruh/.
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Na planině was built in 1938. A ‘planina’ is not too different from its English translation – it’s a plain – and this street is on one. Na planině includes a secondary school, opened in 2009 – it’s named after Milada Horáková, and specialises in teaching modern history: https://www.gymh.cz/.
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Nová cesta was built in 1925. When Nová cesta was build in 1925, it was, quite literally, a New Road. It isn’t anymore (well, it *is* a road, credit where it’s due), but the name has stuck. Those who think the name should have been updated might do well to remember that Prague’s New Town…
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Točitá was built in 1935. Descriptive street name time – ‘točitá’ means ‘spiral’, ‘winding’, or, if you’re trying to look a bit swish, ‘serpentine’. If you want some vocab, a ‘točité schodiště’ is a ‘spiral staircase’. And, given Communist Czechoslovakia’s propensity for cover versions, the more middle of the road, the better, how am I…
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Panuškova was built in 1965. Jaroslav Panuška was born in Hořovice, near Beroun, in 1872. By the age of ten, he had already painted his first watercolour. His family moved to Prague, and he attended secondary school in Smíchov. In 1889, Panuška started studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. After several…
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Kovařovicova was built in 1965. Karel Kovařovic was born in Prague’s Malá Strana in 1862, into a family so musical that it even formed its own orchestra. Kovařovic studied harp, piano and clarinet at the Prague Conservatory of Music, graduating in 1879. Among those he studied under was the composer Zdeněk Fibich (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/01/14/prague-3-day-143-fibichova/). In 1881,…
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Fact number 1: I write these posts because I enjoy them. Fact number 2: as true as that is, I also wouldn’t say no to reaching a wider audience. Fact number 3: I feel validated in leaving Twitter as soon as it became intolerable, but this was not great in terms of fact number 2.…
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Valtínovská was built in 1979. Valtínov is another village near Jindřichův Hradec, and actually part of the municipality of Kunžak (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/06/04/prague-4-day-393-kunzacka/). It has about 120 inhabitants. The earliest written mention that we know of is from 1358. The name means that it was once the property of someone called Valtin, a shorter version of…
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Two mildly dissatisfying statements to kick this one off: Ke Krčské stráni was ‘probably’ built ‘sometime in the 1940s’, and seems to not get its own street sign. Then, for its name, while Na krčské stráni is located on a hillside (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/05/26/prague-4-day-387-na-krcske-strani/), Ke Krčské stráni leads towards one. It’s nice and green round here, so…
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Kunžacká was built in 1941. Similar story to yesterday’s post (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/06/03/prague-4-day-392-rodvinovska/): Kunžak is another village in South Bohemia, near Jindřichův Hradec. It lies on the historical border between Bohemia and Moravia, meaning its inhabitants must spend an awful lot of time talking about how they are so different from each other. The earliest written mention…
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Rodvinovská was built in 1941. Rodvínov is a village in South Bohemia, near Jindřichův Hradec. The earliest mention that we know of is from 1319. Rodvínov has 631 inhabitants, three red deer breeding operations, two emu farms, and a train station which no trains have stopped at since 2020. And yes, the fact that it’s…
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Nad pískovnou was built in 1935. It’s named after its location above a once-upon-a-time pískovna, AKA a sandpit or a sand quarry. For another sand-related street, why not take a look at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/03/19/prague-3-day-175-pisecka/.
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Hornokrčská was built in 1920. The street didn’t have an official name until 1935; apparently, it was ‘unofficially’ known as Zborovská until then, whatever ‘unofficially’ means. We’re about a year from writing about a street in Prague 5 that is still called Zborovská, but, for now, Zboriv and its WW1 battle get a mention on…
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Pod rovinou was built in 1935. If there’s one thing Prague 4 loves, it’s a good ‘rovina’, i.e. a plain or flat land. We’ve been in them in Podolí: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/09/09/prague-4-day-167-v-rovinach/. We’ve been on them in Lhotka: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/03/10/prague-4-day-329-na-rovinach/. And today, we’re under one. Looking at the map above, this may also win the prize for being…
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K Habrovce was built in 1935. Quick throwback to the story of Habrovka, an erstwhile homestead, on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/05/19/prague-4-day-384-u-habrovky/; it was demolished as Krč became increasingly urban and increasingly residential.
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Na krčské stráni was built in 1935. A ‘stráň’ is a hillside, or a slope, and this street is quite literally on one in Krč. I’m quite glad that my mental block/conviction that ‘stráň’ means ‘border’ turned out not to be true, because Na krčské stráni is in no way on the border of Krč,…
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U krčské vodárny was built in 1925. Until 1952, it had a ‘I’ at the end of its name, due to the (then) existence of U krčské vodárny II (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/05/07/prague-4-day-378-antala-staska/). And U krčské vodárny III (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/05/18/prague-4-day-383-zachova/). *And* U krčské vodárny IV (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/05/13/prague-4-day-381-sevce-matouse/). It seems there was even a V, which I haven’t written about yet.…
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Krčská was built in 1920. Until 1935, it was called Kozinova, after Jan Sladký-Kozina (1652–1695), leader of the Chod peasant rebellion. He’s still got a street in Hostivař, but the uprising is covered a little on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/01/30/prague-2-day-25-chodska/ (and do check out the Chods – interesting people). Meanwhile, the first mention of Krč that we know of…
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U Habrovky was built in 1935. Once upon a time, there was a vineyard here; a homestead was added to it, and was named Habrovka. One building from the homestead survives: https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habrovka_(usedlost)#/media/Soubor:Habrovka_(02).jpg (picture by Alenka Pokorná). This was presumably named after ‘habr’, or hornbeam, i.e. a hardwood tree in the plant genus Carpinus (there are…
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Zachova was built before 1935. Until 1952, it was called U krčské vodárny III. I’ve promised before that we’ll get onto the Krčská vodárna soon enough, and that still holds. Zach, meanwhile, is another character from the novel O ševci Matoušovi a jeho přátelích, which has its own post on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/05/13/prague-4-day-381-sevce-matouse/. And whose author also…
What's in a Prague street name 