Streetsign reading "Tallinn Streets dot com" Header

Work in progress

A pile of ro ad signs half-trashed and piled up on a building-site, to indicate the site is in construction.

Website under construction, a couple of entries still pending, no photos with the streets yet, layout not finalized...

This started with a book (last few pages under review) and so far 1889 of the 1891 articles entered, 1 or 2 links may go nowhere.

Logo of the Tallinn Children's Hospital Foundation

The Book

All author earnings of A Rambling Dictionary of Tallinn Street Names to be donated to the foundation or donate here.

If anyone could help or advise as to the legal mechanism, it would be appreciated, thanks!

The Website

Not intended at the beginning, the present website is taking on a life of its own, with plans for relevant discussion forums, picture galleries and, over time, more non-streetname entries.

In theory, it will be funded by advertising relevant to people in Tallinn, to be determined.

A percentage of profits (also to be determined) to be donated to the foundation. 

Contact

Photograph of Simon Hamilton in Pikk street, Tallinn.

Apparently, a company that uses its owner's name is considered more trustworthy because they put themselves on the line.

This is me, in Tallinn this spring (2025), on a 3-month spree to check details, take photos (about 12K), explore (ave. 15K/day), and so on. I think I covered every street in Kesklinn (apart from Mõigu), most of Põhja-Tallinn and some Kristiine.

For information, please contact Simon at this address dot com, thanks!

Names

Vabaduse väljak (Vabadus)

Freedom, liberty. Built over part of the former city walls and bastions (southern part of Pommeri Bastion and northern part of the 1686 Berghi Ravelin), today’s ‘Freedom Square’ has gone through many, many changes. The sequence seems to have been (list lifted from KNAB), if order is possible, first language then most recent date order (with dashes: durations; dates alone: records), roughly as follows:

  • 1938; 1939-1941; 1942; 1989-: Vabaduse väljak (freedom square, back at last in 1989. NB: väljak (square) is and sounds more Estonian than the German-sounding plats (also square)
  • 1938: Vabadusväljak (ditto)
  • 1923-1939: Vabaduse plats (ditto)
  • 1966-1989: Võidu väljak (victory square, revamp, note space)
  • 1941-1941 (yup, short); and 1948-1966: Võiduväljak (by the Soviets, twice)
  • ±1921: Harju turg (market)
  • 1875(?), 1910; 1921-1923?: Peetri plats (Peter’s square, after Peter I)
  • 1908; 1910: Heina turg (hay market)
  • ?: Puu- ja Heinaturg (wood and hay market)
  • ?: Palgi turg (timber market)
  • 1942: Freiheitsplatz (freedom square)
  • 1913: Peterplatz (Peter’s square, after Peter I)
  • 1910: Peters-Platz (ditto)
  • 1907: Heumarkt (hay market)
  • ?: Holz- und Heumarkt (wood and hay market)
  • ?: Вабадузе, площадь (Vabaduze ploshchad': площадь = square, transliteration of ‘Vabaduse’)
  • ?: Свободы, площадь (Svobody ploshchad': translation of ‘freedom’)
  • ?: Выйду, площадь (Vyydu, ploshchad': transliteration of ‘Võidu’)
  • ?: Победы, площадь (Pobedy ploshchad': translation of ‘victory’)
  • 1910; 1916: Петровская пл. (Petrovskaya pl., Peter’s square, after Peter I)
  • ±1767: Новая пл. (Novaya pl.: пл. = sq., new, see Harju)
  • ?: Сенной рынокъ (Sennoy rynok [old spelling]: hay (rynok = market)

The manufacture of street-signs is clearly a good business in Estonia.

Vabaõhukooli (Vabaõhukool)

Open-air school. Location (at No.7) of the ‘Tallinn Konstantin Päts Vabaõhukool’ for children with respiratory diseases. See Metsakooli.

Vabaõhumuuseumi (Vabaõhumuuseum)

Open-air museum / Outdoor museum. Longest single-word streetname ex aequo with Märtsikellukese, 15 letters.

Vabarna (Vabarn)

Alternative, perhaps original, name for raspberry (cf. Vaarika). Etymology limited. EES records 4 FU cognates: Votic: võvvar; Olonets Karelian: vavarjo or vavadŕo; Ludic: babarm or vagarm; Veps: babarm; all of which seem typical of ‘babbling’ or ‘nursery’ words (see Nunnatorn). Odd-man-out, Livonian has ounõmōŗa (‘apple’ berry, see Õuna).

Vabe (Vabe)

Pole, paling or picket-fence upon which nets are hung to dry. Part of a fishing-tackle group, see also Võrgukivi.

Vabriku (Vabrik)

Factory, after an iron foundry built there in the 19th C. Renamed (1964-1990) as Rabtšinski I. during the Soviet occupation, and formerly known as Kleine Ziegelskoppelsche Straße, aka Väike-Telliskopli (about which, see Kopli).

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Wanted!

Beautiful photos of your street or Tallinn! Send them in! No remuneration planned for now, but will be attributed according to your preferences.