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).
Category: 1925
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Zapadlá was built in 1925. ‘Zapadlá’ is an adjective with many potential translations, including (but not limited to) ‘fallen’, ‘remote’, ‘out-of-the-way’, ‘sunken’ and ‘deep-set’. In 1925, when this was becoming a truly residential area, it was decided that this was a good way to describe the street in relation to all the construction taking place.…
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Na Dobešce was built in 1925. It’s been said that this is named after a massive oak tree in the vicinity (an oak is a ‘dub’, and more on that in a few streets’ time). However, for the other story, we can go to the 1931 writings of Karel Čapek (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/01/30/prague-2-day-24-sady-bratri-capku/ for a post…
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U háje was built in 1925. A ‘háj’ is a a grove; you may also know its diminutive form, ‘hájek’ (but note that, no, Mexican-American actress and producer Salma Hayek doesn’t have secret Czech roots – her father is of Lebanese descent). This area used to be a grove; while there’s still a good deal of…
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Nad lomem was built in 1925. Braník is known for the Branické skály, or the Braník Rocks, designated as natural monument in 1968. From the 1700s (maybe earlier) until 1928, limestone was mined round here. Mining involves quarries, and the Czech for ‘quarry’ is ‘lom’ – hence this street being ‘Above the quarry’. However, wander…
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Na Kavčích horách was built in 1925. I don’t know if it has a street sign, and felt like I might be walking on private property anyway, as fairly well proven by this picture, so I decided it was wise to stop looking for one. We already discussed the origin of the name Kavčí hory…
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Za skalkou was built in 1925. A ‘skalka’ is a rock garden, or a rockery. It’s the diminutive of ‘skála’, which is a rock or a cliff. Or a crag, if you want multiple options. Once upon a time, the area round here was called Za skalkou (we can find that on maps from around…
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U vápenné skály was built in 1925. This translates as ‘by the limestone rock’, so go and take a look at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/20/prague-4-day-122-vapencova/.
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Na Podkovce was built in 1925. ‘Podkovka’ translates as ‘Hippocrepis’, which itself translates as ‘horseshoe’; it’s a genus of flowering plants, of which there are accepted to be 34 different species. And, because round here is round here, it was, once upon a time, the name of a local vineyard.
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Na Zlatnici was built in 1925. You may remember that Podolí was built in an area of vineyards – they’re mentioned on quite a large proportion of recent posts, such as https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/11/prague-4-day-114-na-topolce/, which is named after a vineyard called Topolka. There was another vineyard round here called Zlatnice. When used to describe a person, a…
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Podolské schody were built in 1925. There may be a proper street sign up at the top. These are the ‘Podolí Steps’, built around the same time as much everything else round here, when Podolí was newly part of Prague and expanding. The steps got a bit of attention in late 2023, when railings were…
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Ve svahu was built in 1925. A ‘svah’ is a slope or a hillside, and this street is, as you’ve already guessed, located on one. For vocabulary fans, a ‘lyžařský svah’ is a ski slope, whereas a steep slope would be a ‘příkrý svah’.
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Hoffmannova was built in 1925, but remained nameless until 1955. The whole namelessness thing starts to make sense when you see that it feels more like a ye olde village road than anything else. Karel Hoffmann was born to a poor family in Smíchov in 1872, initially living near Anděl, then at Bertramka. As a…
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Nad spádem was built in 1925. ‘Spád’ can be translated as ‘momentum, ‘speed’, ‘cadence’, ‘flow’ and much else besides. In the context of this street, it would be a ‘gradient’, ‘slope’, etc., and ‘Nad spádem’ denotes that the street is above one. Continuing the theme of publishing companies quite liking setting up their headquarters in…
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Voráčovská was built in 1925. Apparently a previous name for the immediately surrounding area – presumably because of someone whose surname was Voráček, but all the ones listed on Czech Wikipedia were born too late for it to be them. I’m going to assume there was a villa, a farm or a vineyard involved. Based…
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Doudova was built in 1925. Václav Douda was born in Podolí in 1886. He qualified as a teacher, while also training, and acting in a management capacity, at the Podolí Sokol (guide to the Sokols on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-114-sokolska/). In 1913, he was part of the Czech team at the 6th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, which took…
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Pod Klaudiánkou was built in 1925. A pleasingly short one today, as I can just point you in the direction of https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/14/prague-4-day-117-na-klaudiance/. So, let’s take advantage of that and tell another story, that of the ‘číslo popisné’, literally ‘descriptive number’, AKA the unique number assigned to each building in Prague in addition to its street-specific…
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Na Topolce was built in 1925. Once upon a time, there was a vineyard around here. It was called Topolka. According to legend, water from the spring here was used to serve Vyšehrad (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-118-vysehradska/). At some point, the local well also became known as Topolka; there are rumours that Libuše used drink from it (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/23/prague-2-day-93-libusina/),…
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Svážná was built in 1925. ‘Svažovat se’ is a verb translating as ‘slope (down)’, ‘descend’ or ‘dip’. And that’s exactly what this street does, towards central Nusle. The associated noun – ‘svah’ – translates as ‘slope’, as in ‘lyžařský svah’, which is a ski slope or a ski run. It can also be translated as ‘hillside’.…
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Nad Nuslemi was built in 1925. It is, quite literally, ‘above Nusle’, and also serves as a reminder that, in Czech, Nusle is plural. I thought this might be because it was formed by the combination of Upper (Horní) and Lower (Dolní) Nusle… but it seems those were already plural too. One famous resident of…
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Vyšší was built in 1925. If you’re walking up a hill, you might start in the lower parts (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/03/16/prague-4-day-48-dolni/). And then end up in the upper parts (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/03/17/prague-4-day-49-horni/). But sometimes, that’s not the peak, and you may end up even higher – which is exactly what Vyšší means. For some vocabulary – thankfully less filled…
What's in a Prague street name 