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: Villages
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Senožatská was built in 1968. Senožaty (German: Heumahd) is another village in the Vysočina Region, located about ten kilometres from Humpolec. It was probably founded by Želiv Monastery (yes, also nearby) around 1300, and the earliest written mention we have is from 1352. In 1678, an abbott called Strobl, together with an apothecary from Jihlava…
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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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Dobřejovická was buiilt in 1980. Dobřejovice is a village in Prague-East, about 18 km south-east of the centre of the city. The earliest extant information of it in writing is from 1309. It has about 1,300 inhabitants and a nice chateau, although, given it’s privately owned, you’re unlikely to be able to visit it unless…
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Němčická was built at some point between 1973 and 1982 (warning: today’s post is going to remain about this vague). The street is likely to be named after a village called Němčice (whose name, in turn, I assume comes from the fact that its inhabitants were once predominantly German). Unfortunately, there are at least nine…
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Pikovická was built in 1991. Well, I say ‘built’ – it’d be more accurate to say it already existed in 1991, which was the year it was separated from Modřanská (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/09/29/prague-4-day-185-modranska/). Pikovice is a village on the bank of the Sázava river; the earliest written mention that we have dates back to 1310. It changed hands…
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Originally published on X on 31 December 2023. In 1115, Vladislav I, Duke of Bohemia, had a monastery built in Kladruby, near Tachov (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-17-tachovske-namesti/); he would be buried there when he died a decade later. He also decreed that a village be created here, in the monastery’s honour. The village was named Opatovice (an opat…
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Originally published on X on 25 November 2023. Malá Strana was founded as a royal town in 1257, but the surrounding area had been inhabited for centuries. And that surrounding area had several villages, including, among others, Újezd and Nebovidy, the latter of which was located around where the street is now. A nebovid would…
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Originally published on X on 18 September 2023. Nový Svět was originally a village, developing outside Hradčany in the early 1300s, and, in 1360, being attached to it as ordered by Charles IV. Not surprisingly, many of its residents worked at the Castle. And its attachment to Hradčany is why it became known as a…
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Originally published on Twitter on 5 July 2022. Olšanská was built in 1947. Olšany, a village located where the road now is, was built in 1306. It was named after ‘olše’, the alder tree. It’s hard to believe now, but there were several ponds and a stream here. The manors here had various owners, before…
What's in a Prague street name 