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: Water
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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…
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Nad koupadly was built in 1935. We’ve been near the bathing area round here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/02/22/prague-4-day-317-u-lazni/. We’ve then been near it again: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/02/24/prague-4-day-319-u-koupadel/. And now we’re above it. Remind me to take some more pictures round here in the summer, it’s probably quite a different experience.
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U koupadel was built in 1935. ‘Koupadla’ are ‘baths’, as in the outdoor ones you would go to swim in, rather than the indoor ones that you want to lie in for hours on end after having a bit of a day of it at work (I’m in that place today). See also: ‘koupaliště’. And…
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U propusti was built in 1935. A ‘propust’ is a sluice, i.e. a sliding gate or other device used to control the flow of water. It can also be translated as, yes, ‘floodgate’. This is relevant here, because the street is (kind of) located between the swimming baths discussed yesterday on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/02/22/prague-4-day-317-u-lazni/ and the Lhotka…
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Nad strouhou was named in 1926. A ‘strouha’ is an artificial or natural flow of water. It can be used to drain water, or to power a mill. I’m going to go with ‘gully’ as a reasonable English translation. I’m also going to assume it comes from the same Old Slavic source as Struga in…
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Na Mlejnku was named in 1938. In 1625, the Dominican Order of St Giles (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/06/prague-1-day-171-jilska/ for a bit more about him and them) came to Braník and acquired the local fortified manor. At some point, they had a water mill – a vodni mlýn – built. It lasted a good while, being purchased by…
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Na Topolce was built in 1925. Once upon a time, there was a vineyard around here. It was called Topolka. According to legend, water from the spring here was used to serve Vyšehrad (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-118-vysehradska/). At some point, the local well also became known as Topolka; there are rumours that Libuše used drink from it (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/23/prague-2-day-93-libusina/),…
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Pod lázní was built in 1925. This street is under a ‘lázeň’, which we can translate as ‘bath’. To find out where that is (sorry, was), we need to head back to Jezerka (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/03/19/prague-4-day-51-na-jezerce/) Once upon a time, a clean spring of water used to flow from Jezerka to Vyšehrad (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-118-vysehradska/). As far back as…
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Pod pramenem was built in 1932. It translates as ‘under the spring’, and the spring in question is called Jezerka, as is the park that you can see in the map above. I would go into more detail, but it’s really more of a day 51 kind of story.
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Originally published on X on 29 April 2023. V Tůních was built around the end of the 17th century. Until 1870, it was known by a similar name, Tůnní. A tůň, or tůně, is a ‘circular or oval-shaped freshwater ecosystem located in the floodplains of rivers or streams’. So I guess we’re dealing with a pond,…
What's in a Prague street name 