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: Krč
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Jalodvorská was built in 1920. Until 1935, the street was called Moskevská, after Moscow. Its current name harks back to the presumably underperforming farms that were once round here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/09/21/prague-4-day-450-pod-jalovym-dvorem/. For those keeping count (nobody is keeping count), there are ten streets to go before we move on to Michle. And all of Michle and…
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Trnková was named in the early 1950s. We’re back in the rose family today: ‘trnka’ is blackthorn, or sloe (Prunus spinosa). Here in Czechia, their white, five-petalled flowers typically appear in late March or early April. These then bear black-blue fruit which ripen in October or November, and stay on the flower all winter. Hence…
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Za dvorem was built in 1990. Quick one today: ‘Za dvorem’ translates as ‘Behind the court’, and we spoke about that court on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/09/21/prague-4-day-450-pod-jalovym-dvorem/.
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V lískách was built before 1941. A ‘líska’ is a hazel tree – a tree so useful that it’s apparently known as ‘the Swiss Army knife of plants’ – and presumably the vegetation around here used to have a lot of them. Hazel trees, not Swiss Army knives.
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Tavolníková was built in 1990. ‘Tavolník’ is Czech for ‘spiraea’, also known as ‘meadowsweets’ or ‘steeplebushes’, a genus of plants belonging to the rose family. They’re deciduous shrubs, found across the northern hemisphere, but especially in Eastern Asia. They are not generally eaten – although Native Americans used to – and are frequently used as…
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V Štíhlách was built before 1948, maybe a long time before that. Until 1948, it was called Jeřábová, due to the rowan trees (jeřáby) growing in the area. ‘Jeřáb’ also means ‘crane’ – as in the bird and the machine – but the street was named after the tree. Then, from 1948 to 1968, it…
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Pod Jalovým dvorem was built in 1947. It was called Pod Jalovým dvorem II until 1968 – which suggests this is quite an old street sign. Once upon a time, were four farmsteads here. Initially isolated, they became part of Upper Krč (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/05/30/prague-4-day-390-hornokrcska/) and collectively became known as Jalový Dvůr. Jalový Dvůr translates as ‘the…
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Tajovského was built in 1969. Jozef Alojz Gregor was born in Tajov, a village near Banská Bystrica, in 1874 – ten years after someone else we recently wrote about was born there (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/09/11/prague-4-day-442-murgasova/). This is the house he grew up in. After he finished school in Banská Bystrica in 1889, he trained to be a…
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Hečkova was built in 1975. František Hečko was born in Suchá nad Parnou, near Trnava in Slovakia, in 1905; his schooling and tertiary education took him to Modra, Bratislava, Košice and Prague. He started publishing poetry and prose in various Slovak periodicals; these often covered social themes and village life. His first collection of poems,…
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Sládkovičova was built in 1969. Andrej Braxatoris was born in Krupina, near Banská Bystrica in present-day Slovakia, in 1820. He started his schooling in Krupina, finished it in Bratislava, and then studied at the University of Halle from 1843 to 1844. He also had his first (patriotic) poems published in 1842 in the almanach Nitra,…
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V jehličí was built in 1941. You may remember that we’re near a forest (which you are allowed to call several different things – see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/09/12/prague-4-day-443-pod-krcskym-lesem/). Among the things you find in forests are trees and shrubs which reproduce with male and female cones. These trees are known as conifers in English, and as ‘jehličnany’…
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Jánošíkova was built in 1969. Juraj Jánošík was born in Terchová, near Žilina in Slovakia, in 1688. Around 1706, he joined the army of Francis II Rákóczi, a Hungarian nobleman who had been waging a war of independence against the Habsburgs since 1703. Within a couple of years, however, he had joined the Imperial Army…
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Pod Krčským lesem was built in 1941. You will see a big chunk of forest on the map above. Thing is, people can’t quite agree what to call it. Generally, the north-western section is known as Michelský les (Michle Forest), and Michle is where we’ll be going once I’m finished with Krč in approximately one…
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Murgašova was built in 1969. Jozef Murgaš was born in Tajov, near Banská Bystrica in Slovakia, in 1864 (photo taken from Wikimedia Commons, credit to Peter Zelizňák). Having finished his schooling in Banská Bystrica, he went to Bratislava to study at the seminary from 1880 to 1882, then moving to Esztergom (now in Hungary) to…
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Ružinovská was built in 1969. Ružinov is a borough in eastern Bratislava, with a population of about 84,000 people. The area has been settled for at least 5,500 years. One village, Prievoz, developed next to one of two fords over which it was possible to cross the Danube. Agricultural until the late 19th century, the…
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Hurbanova was built in 1969. Jozef Ľudovít Hurban was born in Beckov, now in the Trenčín region of Slovakia, in 1817, the son of a Lutheran priest (photo taken from Wikimedia Commons, credit to Peter Zelizňák). Initially home-schooled, he attended school in Trenčín, followed by the Lutheran Lyceum in Bratislava, where he spent ten years…
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Bernolákova was built in 1969. Anton Bernolák was born in Slanica, a now-extinct village in the Orava region of Slovakia, in 1762. He studied theology in Vienna and Bratislava, where he studied at the general seminary. While at the seminary, he became a big supporter of the Enlightenment reforms of Maria Theresa and Joseph II,…
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Pod višňovkou was built in 1935. We’re under a sour cherry tree. Or we used to be. Same story as https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/08/22/prague-4-day-427-visnova/. Same tree too. Or one of them.
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Kukučínova was built in 1969. Its spelling was corrected from the original Kukučinova in 1999. Matej Bencúr was born in Jasenová, Slovakia, near Dolný Kubín, in 1860. He went to school in several towns, ultimately completing his schooling in Sopron, which is now in Hungary (cue a quick photo dump from a wonderful two-week holiday…
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Thomayerova was built in 1990. Josef Thomayer was born in Trhanov, near Domažlice in the Chodsko Region (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/01/30/prague-2-day-25-chodska/) in 1853. He went to school in Klatovy in the Plzeň region, where one of his classmates would later change his name to Jaroslav Vrchlický and become a famous poet. Thomayer then studied medicine in Prague, and…
