What's in a Prague street name
Every street in Prague, one by one.
recent posts (search bar on main page for about a gazillion more)
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: 1935
-
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…
-
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/.
-
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…
-
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…
-
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.
-
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,…
-
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…
-
Pecharova was built in 1935. Until 1952, it was called U dětského útulku (‘At the children’s home’), after Dětský útulek sv. Terezičky (St Theresa’s), which opened here in 1929. The building was ultimately demolished in 1989. Meanwhile, it turns out that today’s street name is a continuation of yesterday’s post about O ševci Matoušovi a…
-
Ševce Matouše was built in 1935. I just wrote this entire post, then it disappeared when I was about to post it, so I feel like I was also built in 1935 right now. Until 1952, it was called U krčské vodárny IV, which we’ll get around to soon enough, as there’s still a street…
-
Matěchova was built in 1935. Until 1960, the street was called Záloženská, due to its location near the local savings bank (záložna). Ladislav Matěcha was born in Smrčí in 1893 and worked as a carpenter. He lived in house number 127 on this street. He was a member of the Communist Party, as well as…
-
Antala Staška was built in 1935. Until 1952, it was called U krčské vodárny II, which we’ll get onto in an imminent-ish post. Antonín Zeman was born in Stanový, a village near Jablonec, in 1843, as the eldest of ten children. He went to school in Jičín (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/02/26/prague-3-day-158-jicinska/) and Kraków. He then studied law in…
-
U nových domů III was built in 1935. This is the third – and, thankfully, final – part of the New Houses trilogy which started on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/04/17/prague-4-day-359-u-novych-domu-i/. That longer red line on the map above indicates that, yes, the C line of the metro runs underground near here; the ‘no crossing here’ signs a bit…
-
U nových domů II was built in 1935. New buildings, old post: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/04/17/prague-4-day-359-u-novych-domu-i/.
-
U nových domů I was built in 1935. ‘Nové domy’ are ‘new buildings’ or ‘new houses’. In 1935, the houses around here were indeed new – they had been built by the Ústřední sociální pojišťovna / Central Social Insurance Agency. That ‘I’ in the name is a sign that I’m going to get quite an…
-
Za Zelenou liškou was built in 1935. Some time before 1720, an inn was built, south of Pankrác (then a village) and near the road that led from Prague to České Budějovice. It had a green fox – a zelená liška – painted on its gable. The fox then gave its name to the inn,…
-
U družstva Tempo was built in 1935. A ‘družstvo’ is a cooperative, or a housing cooperation. Those of you who’ve been following the series for a while may remember https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/03/28/prague-4-day-60-druzstevni-ochoz/, where I spoke about how the street was named after said cooperatives (who built its houses). There were then various streets named after specific cooperatives,…
-
Slepá II was built in 1935. This is, predictably, the sequel to yesterday’s https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/03/18/prague-4-day-336-slepa-i/. So here’s some vocabulary to compensate. The ‘slepé střevo’ is the blind gut, or the caecum, which is joined to the appendix. If you can hear a sound right now, it’s me realising it’s taken me until 2026 to realise why…
-
Slepá I was built in 1935. ‘Slepá’ most commonly translates as ‘blind’ (for those wondering, ‘slepá bába’ is ‘blind man’s buff’. Things that are not part of the animal kingdom that can be blind include, of course, alleys. Therefore, a ‘slepá ulice’, such as this one, is a ‘blind alley’, a ‘dead end’ or a…
-
V zahradní čtvrti was built in 1935. This district (‘čtvrť) has a lot of nice houses. Although I wouldn’t particularly recommend performing internet searches to see if you can afford them. These nice houses are often accompanied by nice gardens (‘zahrady’). Hence this street being ‘in the garden district’. Looking for this info has led to me…
-
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…
What's in a Prague street name 