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

  • Prague 3, day 61: Na Mokřině

    Originally published on Twitter on 23 June 2022. Na Mokřině was built in 1925. Quite a straightforward one this time: a mokřina is a marsh, fen or bog. Unrelatedly, Mokřina is also the name of a village in Cheb district, called Krottensee until 1948.

  • Prague 3, day 60: Mezi Domky

    Originally published on Twitter on 22 June 2022. Mezi Domky was built in 1925. It translates as ‘Between the houses’. The street is so named because of its location, between houses built as Prague’s population soared in the early 1920s. A domek is smaller than a regular dům. However, many of these houses are no…

  • Prague 3, day 59: Za Vackovem

    Originally published on Twitter on 21 June 2022. Za Vackovem was built in 1925. It translates as ‘behind Vackov’. We’ve discussed the Josef Vacek after whom Vackov was named here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/20/prague-3-day-57-na-vackove/. So, as bonus material, here are two renowned Josef Vaceks whom Vackov was *not* named after. First up is Josef Vacek (born in Příbram…

  • Prague 3, day 58: Na Rovnosti

    Originally published on Twitter on 20 June 2022. Na Rovnosti was built in 1925. Very literal translation: ‘On Equality’. The street is so called because the terrain around it is rovinatý. Flat, level, plain. You get it. It would be much more awesome if the name were something to do with Volnost, rovnost, bratrství, AKA…

  • Prague 3, day 56: Na Chmelnici

    Originally published on Twitter on 18 June 2022. Na Chmelnici was built in 1925. We’ve already covered what a chmelnice is here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-40-k-chmelnici/. But, whereas K Chmelnici (north side of Koněvova) heads towards the hop garden, Na Chmelnici (south side of Koněvova) is meant to be where it’s at. (It’s not, at least anymore; just…

  • Prague 3, day 55: Pod Jarovem

    Pod Jarovem was built in 1925, and translate as ‘under Jarov’. And Jarov, the district we’re in (or potentially just outside of if we’re ‘pod’ it?), is described on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-30-na-jarove/. There are some other Jarovs around the country too, for example in north Plzeň district: https://oujarov.cz and, erm, in south Plzeň district: https://obecjarov.cz. And a…

  • Prague 3, day 53: Schöfflerova

    Originally published on Twitter on 15 June 2022. Schöfflerova was built in 1925. Josef Schöffler, also Schäffler, was a typographer and co-founder of the Cooperative for the Construction of Workers’ Flats and Family Houses in Žižkov (Družstvo pro stavbu dělnických bytů a rodiných domků na Žižkově). Sources say that Schöffler died in World War I,…

  • Prague 3, day 48: Pod Lipami

    Originally published on 10 June 2022. Pod Lipami was built in 1925. Continuing yesterday’s tree theme (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/20/prague-3-day-47-osikova/), ‘Pod lipami’ translates as ‘under the linden trees’. Which makes this Prague’s answer to Berlin’s famous ‘Unter den Linden’ (except it doesn’t). If we’re talking about lindens in different languages, the Romanian for ‘linden’ is tei, and ‘love…

  • Prague 3, day 43: Na Vlastním

    Originally published on Twitter on 5 June 2022. Na Vlastním was built in 1925. To tell the story, you may wish to go back to https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-32-v-domove/, which describes how this neighbourhood came about. Apparently, Vlastní, like Domov, was a construction cooperative that built a large number of the homes round here. (Do go for a…

  • Prague 3, day 42: Pod Vrcholem

    Originally published on Twitter on 4 June 2022. Pod Vrcholem was built in 1925. Under the same peak as yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/20/prague-3-day-41-k-vrcholu/). That’s about it. And I promise there’s more gripping stuff to come.

  • Prague 3, day 39: Na Balkáně

    Originally published on Twitter on 1 June 2022. Na Balkáně was built in 1925, and translates as ‘In the Balkans’. ‘Balkán’ is indeed the name of this part of Prague, which is located mainly in Vysočany but also partially in Žižkov. Na Balkáně is home to a gardening settlement, founded in 1938, and one of…

  • Prague 3, day 32: V Domově

    Originally published on Twitter on 25 May 2022. V Domově was built in 1925. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Prague didn’t become the capital of an independent country until 1918, and that the civil service had previously been based in Vienna. As Prague gained in importance, its population grew rapidly too. In 1920, it…

  • Prague 3, day 31: V Jezerách

    Originally published on Twitter on 24 May 2022. V Jezerách was built in 1925. I was going to say that this means ‘In the lakes’ and move on, but that would be v jezerech with a second e and not an á. One lake is a jezero, two lakes are jezera, and a small lake…

  • Prague 3, day 30: Na Jarově

    Originally published on Twitter on 23 May 2022. Na Jarově was built in 1925. It translates as ‘In Jarov’ or ‘On Jarov’ (in Czech, you tend to be in a town, but on a district). Jarov is the easternmost area of Žižkov, stretching east from V Zahrádkách (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-29-v-zahradkach/) until Žižkov becomes Hrdlořezy*. Jarov was the…

  • Prague 3, day 29: V Zahrádkách

    Originally published on Twitter on 22 May 2022. V Zahrádkách was built in 1925. Road leading off Koněvova in ‘not named after a Hussite’ shocker. V Zahrádkách translates as as ‘in the gardens’. But a zahrádka is smaller than a zahrada (the standard term for ‘garden’). So it’s a small garden, a back garden, or,…

  • Prague 3, day 10: Na Vápence

    Originally published on 3 May 2022. Na Vápence was built in 1925. Vápenka translates as ‘lime works’ or ‘limekiln’; it was also the name of a farmstead lying where the street is now. Presumably there was formerly a limestone quarry in the area, hence the name of the settlement. Apparently it stretched across Židovské pece…

  • Prague 3, day 9: Za Žižkovskou vozovnou

    Originally published on Twitter on 2 May 2022. Za Žižkovskou vozovnou was built in 1925. The name is fairly unambiguous this time: ‘behind Žižkov Depot’. Vozovna Žižkov / Žižkov Depot is one of Prague’s seven tram depots, and the second-oldest, as it was built in 1912. It’s the only depot to have a circular track…

  • Prague 3, day 8: Na Hlídce

    Originally published on Twitter on 1 May 2022. Na Hlídce was built in 1925. It’s the same story as yesterday’s: when this area of Prague (Balkán) was urbanised after World War I, many of the inhabitants were state employees and the street name reflected their jobs. Na hlídce means ‘on watch’ or ‘on guard’. The…

  • Prague 3, day 7: Strážní

    Originally posted on Twitter on 30 April 2022. Strážní was built in 1925. It’s also the name of a nearby tram stop. The area to the north-east of here (and immediately north of all the streets we’ve covered so far) is known as ‘Balkán’. It wasn’t urbanised until after World War I and most of…

  • Prague 3, day 6: Hraniční

    Originally published on Twitter on 29 April 2022. Hraniční was built in 1925. ‘Border Street’ is so called because it lies on the border between the districts of Žižkov and Vysočany. I’m very much guilty of assuming that Praha 3 = Žižkov and Žižkov alone, but no, it’s got parts of Vinohrady, Vysočany and Strašnice…