What's in a Prague street name

Every street in Prague, one by one.

  • 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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  • Prague 4, day 239: Nad malým mýtem

    Nad malým mýtem was built in 1935. A ‘mýto’ is a toll. We’re near the Vltava, and, historically, this is where tolls were collected. By the mid-19th century, the entire area was called ‘Za malým mýtem’, literally ‘Behind the small toll’. Those who think it may be unusual to name a place after a toll… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 238: Za mlýnem

    Za mlýnem was named in 1938. ‘Za mlýnem’ translates as ‘Behind the mill’, and so we need to talk about Kunratický potok. In Praha-Kunratice (south-east of here, and a separate urban district from the Prague 4 urban district, but part of the Prague 4 municipal district – it’s complicated), a stream (potok) originates. Eleven kilometres… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 237: Zelinářská

    Zelinářská  was built in 1935. A ‘zelinář’ is a market gardener (as well as translating as ‘greengrocer’) – and this street reminds us that, while there’s been a lot of talk in recent posts about vineyards, the area was also once known for its vegetable gardens. Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 236: Pod svahem

    Pod svahem was named in 1911. Until 1947, the street was called Pod vinicí (Under the vineyard), which takes us back to the trilogy of streets which started on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/13/prague-4-day-228-pod-vinohradem/. The vineyards were located on a slope – or a ‘svah’. So, in 1947, the street went from being ‘Below the vineyard’ to being ‘Below… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 235: Pobřežní cesta 

    Pobřežní cesta was named in 1938. I couldn’t find a street sign, so here’s the nearby tram stop instead. ‘Pobřežní cesta’ translates as ‘coastal road’ if you’re by the sea. We’re not. So I guess we can make do with ‘river bank road’. And this street – more of a path – does exactly what it… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 234: Nad vinohradem

    Nad vinohradem was named in 1911. Until 1947, it was named ‘Horní’ (Upper). These days, it’s part three of our vineyard street trilogy, after https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/13/prague-4-day-228-pod-vinohradem/ and https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/16/prague-4-day-231-na-vinohradu/. (I’ve been resisting the urge to include a ‘Not everything in Prague is about Vinohrady, you know, expats’ in all three of these posts, and can hold it… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 233: Branická

    Branická was built in 1911. Originally, it was three separate streets. The first one was called Hlavní, because it was the main street in, yes, Braník (which wasn’t yet part of Prague). The second one was called Husova, after Jan Hus – see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/05/prague-1-day-169-husova/ for a bit more on him. The third one was nameless.… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 232: U staré pošty

    U staré pošty was built in 1911. The street name refers to an old – and long-gone – post office. There was also a post office nearby on Jiskrova (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/15/prague-4-day-230-jiskrova/) until recently, but, as those of you living in Prague will be very aware, 300 post offices were closed down in 2023. This was one… Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 231: Na vinohradu

    Na vinohradu was built in 1911. Until 1947, the street was called Příčná, which translates as ‘transverse’, and of which there is still one in the New Town: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/15/prague-1-day-119-pricna/. Na vinohradu, meanwhile is so called because it’s in the same former vineyard territory as https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/13/prague-4-day-228-pod-vinohradem/. Continue reading

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