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: 1941
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Bystřická was built in 1941. However, until 1960, it was part of Humpolecká (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/04/20/prague-4-day-362-humpolecka/). Bystřice is a town of 4,700 people in Central Bohemia, about six kilometres south of Benešov. The earliest written mention that we know of is from about 1350. It developed due to its location on a trade route. In 1471, George…
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Krchlebská was built in 1941. Its second street sign, meanwhile, is one I won’t forget in a hurry. Krchleby is a village in Central Bohemia, six kilometres north of Nymburk, and about a sixty-kilometre drive to the northeast from Prague. The origins of Krchleby’s name have never quite been agreed on. ‘Krch’ means ‘left’ in…
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Neveklovská was built in 1941. Neveklov is a town of 2,800 people in Central Bohemia, about 12 km east of Benešov and, therefore, about 30 km north of Prague. The earliest written mention we know of dates from 1285, and we assume it was once the court of somebody called Nevykl or similar. That written…
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Jankovská was built in 1941. Jankov is a village in South Bohemia, about 13 kilometres of České Budějovice. It has a population of about 390. The earliest mention we know of is in a Land Register from 1379; Its name indicates that it was once the estate of someone called Janek. In 1964, a neighbouring…
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Humpolecká was built in 1941, and this is one case where highlighting roads in red doesn’t work very well. Humpolec is a town in the Vysočina Region, about 23 km northwest of Jihlava, with approximately 12,000 residents. The first verified written mention is from 1233, when the Order of Teutonic Knights sold some local property…
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Dudínská was built in 1941. Dudín is a village near Humpolec (which will probably be the subject of tomorrow’s post) in the Vysočina Region. It has a population of 198. The oldest written mention we have is from 1226; the name means that it belonged to someone named Duda, a surname in several Slavic languages,…
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Herálecká I (which was lacking the Roman numeral at that time) was built in 1941. Herálec is a village of about 1,200 people in the Vysočina Region, about 12 kilometres southwest of Havlíčkův Brod (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/12/26/prague-3-day-122-havlickovo-namesti/ to learn about the Havlíček part). The earliest written mention that we know of is from a Papal document…
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Obětí 6. května was built in 1941. The Prague Uprising, an attempt by the Czech resistance to liberate Prague from six years of occupation, broke out on 5 May 1945. You can read about its first day on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/05/prague-4-day-25-5-kvetna-5-may/. On the night of the 5th and 6th of May, almost 1,600 barricades were erected in…
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Pacovská was built in 1941. Pacov is a town of about 4,700 inhabitants in Vysočina Region, 17 kilometres northwest of Pelhřimov. It flourished during the 1400s and the 1500s, gaining a coat of arms in 1519 and being designated a manor town in 1597. It eventually became the property of the Discalced Carmelites (find out…
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Vzdušná was built in 1941 (I think). There’s greenery around here, and there no doubt used to be a lot more of it, especially as none of these streets I’ve been covering lately seem to have sprung up earlier than Czechoslovakia did. This particular street was built on a plateau near the forest. One nice…
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Nad Zátiším was built in 1941. Just because we’re out of Hodkovičky doesn’t mean we’ve left all our Hodkovičky habits behind: this street is ‘above’ Zátiší, as discussed on on day 301 (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/02/05/prague-4-day-301-k-zatisi/). And 305. and 306.
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Filosofská was built in 1941. You know what philosophy is. You know what a philosopher is. But we’re not here because of Socrates, Plato, and whichever person on your feed has declared that he (it’s always a he) too is a philosopher and should therefore be listened to. We’re here because of Alois Jirásek, and…
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Nad Zemankou was named in 1941. It’s in Braník as well as Krč, but you won’t find a street sign confirming the former. Zemanka (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/10/23/prague-4-day-207-na-zemance/) was such a big deal round here that four streets have been named after it; this is the fourth.
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Zelený pruh was built in… read on. In 1941, a street, intended to be called Weilburgova, was built. It was named after Jan Weilburg z Widy, who, in the late 1400s, was the highest scribe in the Old Town. We have to assume he was a German speaker, not only because of his name, but…
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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…
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Děkanská vinice I was built in 1941. Let’s start by reminding ourselves that we’re not far from Vyšehrad, which has a more than significant place in Czech history (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-118-vysehradska/, and maybe have a look round https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/category/vysehrad/ for more). Around the year 1070, the Vyšehrad Chapter / Vyšehradská kapitula was founded, a ‘chapter’ being an assembly…
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Doudlebská was built in 1941. Doudleby (coat of arms below) is a village less than ten kilometres from České Budějovice – so it’s quite appropriate that this street is just a stone’s throw from Budějovická. It’s named after the Doudleby tribe, who settled in the area of the village around 800. It was one of…
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Zdaru was named in 1941. ‘Zdar’ translates as ‘success’ or ‘luck’. If you were to say ‘Mnoho zdaru!’ to someone, you’d be wishing them good luck. It derives from ‘dar’, which means ‘gift’ or ‘present’. It’s also where we get ‘nazdar’, which takes third place to ‘ahoj’ and ‘čau’ in the ‘how to greet your…
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Družstevní ochoz was built in 1941, and has an excellent shape. ‘Družstevní’ is the adjective deriving from ‘družstvo’, which means ‘cooperative’. Everything within that circle of sorts consists of residential homes built by cooperatives. ‘Ochoz’, meanwhile, would translate as ‘gallery’, but not in the art sense: it’s a ‘a space allowing longitudinal passage through walls’.…
What's in a Prague street name 