What's in a Prague street name

Every street in Prague, one by one.

  • Prague 4, day 259: Kamenitá

    Kamenitá was built in 1925. Another one that describes the street’s physical features – ‘kamenita’ translates as ‘stony’, ‘rocky’, or ‘pebbly’. Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 258: Nad branickým pivovarem

    Nad branickým pivovarem was built in 1925. In 1899, thirteen Prague brewers, feeling that industrialisation had caused them to lose their competitive edge, decided that Prague needed a new, modern brewery. In 1900, the Společenský pivovar pražských sládků – Prague Brewers’ Community Brewery – opened. The complex consists of seven Neo-Renaissance and Art Nouveau buildings, Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 257: Táhlá

    Táhlá was built in 1925. If something is ‘táhlá’, it’s long, protracted, sweeping or far-stretching, which seems to be what the street-namers of 1925 thought this road was. Continue reading

  • Prague 4, day 256: Pod Jiráskovou čtvrtí

    Pod Jiráskovou čtvrtí was built in 1935. Also having its construction completed in 1935? Jiráskova čtvrť, i.e. the entire district (a primer is on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/12/02/prague-4-day-247-vrbova/). Clearly, this was a popular idea: there’s also a Jiráskova čtvrť in Kyje (Prague 9), as well as in Doksy (near Liberec) and Meziměstí (near Náchod). Brno had one too Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 255: Žalmanova

    Žalmanova was built in 1969. First of all, your almost-daily reminder that we’re in Jiráskovo čtvrť (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-154-jiraskovo-namesti/). Second of all, your reminder that Jirásek wrote a novel called F.L. Věk (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/12/02/prague-4-day-247-vrbova/). Žalman is a character in said novel; he’s an old man and closet Protestant, whose tales of hardship and persecution have a Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 254: V závitu

    V závitu was built in 1945. A ‘závit’ is a coil or a whorl, and the street is so named due to its shape. Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 253: Ve studeném

    Ve studeném was built in 1935. ‘Studený’ means ‘cold’. Is it colder than elsewhere round here? I didn’t particularly notice. The other option – which I’ve not been able to prove, as that would involve having read 21 novels and ten plays on a working day – is that there’s something ‘studený’-tangential in one of Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 252: U kempinku

    U kempinku was built in 1981. I’ve mainly grown out of giggling at certain Czech transliterations of English words, but my ability to laugh when the English ending ‘-ing’ turns into ‘-ink’ hasn’t quite fizzled out yet. Think brífink, mítink, etc, and my personal winner, dispečink. But it’s time to, erm, carry on, and here, Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 251: Vostrého

    Vostrý was built in 1952. Another day, another character from a Jirásek novel. Actually, no, another day, another character from Temno by Jirásek (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/12/03/prague-4-day-248-machovcova/). In said novel, Vostrý is a Protestant priest – a big no-no to the Habsburgs – and distributes non-Catholic literature. And he’s also the one who tries to get Machovec’s Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 250: Skaláků

    Skaláků was built in 1975. The Alois Jirásek (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-154-jiraskovo-namesti/) series continues. Skaláci (1876) is Jirásek’s novel about the Peasant’s Uprising which took place 101 years earlier. I won’t go into huge detail on that (spoiler: the peasants were still peasants after it), as it’s sure to come up in other posts. For the title of the Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 249: Mikuleckého 

    Mikuleckého  was built in 1973. The Pražský uličník tells me that we’re staying with Alois Jirásek’s 1915 novel Temno (Darkness), first discussed yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/12/03/prague-4-day-248-machovcova/). It also tells me that the novel had a character called Jakub Mikulecký. However, the long summary I read yesterday (full disclosure: I haven’t read Temno) doesn’t mention anyone called either Jakub Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 248: Machovcova

    Machovcova was built in 1935. Until 1952, the street was called Pod myslivnou II, after a myslivna (gamekeeper’s lodge). As with yesterday, we’re spending some time in Jiráskova čtvrť, and so this is another street named after a character from a novel by Alois Jirásek (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-154-jiraskovo-namesti/). This time, the novel is called Temno (Darkness), and Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 247: Vrbova

    Vrbova was built in 1935. Originally, it was two streets – one called Pod myslivnou (Under the gamekeeper’s lodge), and one called Ve studeném (a name we’ll get on to before we leave Braník). They were joined and renamed in 1973. The villa district covering parts of Braník and Hodkovičky (which is up next in this Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 246: U ledáren

    U ledáren was built in 1981. Quick one today, as we’re talking about the same ledárny – icehouses – as we were yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/30/prague-4-day-245-ledarska/). Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 245: Ledařská

    Ledařská was built in 1998. A ‘ledař” is someone who works with ice (and so you’d most likely hear the word, these days, in connection with ice hockey). A ‘ledárna’, meanwhile, would be an ‘icehouse’ or an ‘iceworks’. At the turn of the 20th century, the innkeepers of Prague were using the icehouse on Štvanice Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 244: Skálové 

    Skálové was built in 2021. Dagmar Šimková was born in Plzeñ in 1912. She joined a scout troop in 1934, where the other members nicknamed her Rakša. Rakša is Raksha – the Mother wolf in The Jungle Book who raised Mowgli as her own cub. Raksha (रक्षा) is Hindi for ‘protection’. She and her husband, Karel Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 243: Tiché

    Tiché was built in 2021. Michaela Tichá was born in Šumperk in 1993. She joined the army in 2017, specifically the 242nd Transport and Special Squadron of the 24th Transport Air Force Wing of the 24th Transport Air Force Base Prague-Kbely. She also served in the voluntary fire brigade in Braník: https://prazska.drbna.cz/zpravy/spolecnost/3989-vojacka-ktera-zemrela-pri-padu-vrtulniku-patrila-k-hasicum-z-braniku-jeji-telo-dnes-prileti-do-prahy.html. Her first mission Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 242: Nad strouhou

    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 Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 241: Bezová

    Bezová was built in 1935. ‘Bez’ translates as ‘Sambucus’, a genus of about 20-30 flowering plants which are commonly referred to as ‘elder’. In Czechia, there are three native species: the black elderberry (Sambucus nigra / bez černý), the Sambucus ebulus / bez chebdí) and the red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa / bez červený). And, obviously, Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 240: Branické náměstí

    Branické náměstí was built in 1911. Until 1947, the square was named after Jan Hus (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/05/prague-1-day-169-husova/). Branické náměstí is pretty small, and currently feels even smaller, because it’s fenced off (pics of Jan Hus behind bars below). It was recently given a facelift which was completed in August 2025 (about a year later than intended), but Continue reading

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