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, many entries missing, no photos with the streets yet, layout not finalized...

This started with a book (last few pages under review) and so far 1814 of the 1884 articles (A to Z, with 50-odd Ts remaining) entered so far, so some 5% of the links 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!

Home

Lai

Lai (Lai)

Broad, wide. One of the oldest streets in Tallinn, with a long list of names to prove it. Initially identified after its salient residents, the nuns: susterstrate (1361), vicus monialium or platea (longa/sancti) monialium, loosely translated as “(holy) enclosed nuns’ (long) high street” (1364-1380), then platea sororum (1480). By the 1600s it was Süsterstraße or Schwestergasse and, in the 18th C (1703), the S switched to C, Cisternstraße, a spelling perhaps influenced by the 17th‑C reforms to the Cistercian movement in La Trappe, France. At some stage, however, contemporary records of Cistern- sonst genandt breitstrasse (Sisters’ - otherwise known as broad street) suggest locals must have become aware of the human side of their angelic nature and that, if nothing else, nuns were still broads...

Lahepea

Lahepea (Lahepea)

Over the bight, gulf, cove, inlet (Bight heights?...). After former village on Kopli bay. Nothernmost section the Kõrgepinge bicycle- and foot-path. See Lahe.

Lahe

Lahe (Laht)

Bay, bight, gulf, cove, inlet... One of those odd words in translation: Tallinna laht = Tallinn Bay; Liivi laht = Livonian Gulf (formerly Riia laht, Gulf or Bay of Riga, as it still is in English); Bristoli laht = Bristol Channel; Suur Austraalia laht = Great Australian Bight…

Lagle

Lagle (Lagle)

Another genus of goose (see Hane). Breeding in Estonia:

  • Kanada lagle, Canada goose, Branta canadensis
  • Mustlagle, Brent goose, B. bernicla
  • Punakael-lagle, red-breasted goose, B. ruficollis
  • Valgepõsk-lagle, barnacle goose, B. leucopsis

Part of the Lilleküla bird-name group of streets. See also Leevikese.

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Your business, store or consultancy next to your street address and a percentage of your fee (to be determined) goes the the Children's Hospital fund.

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Post your favorite local photo and sponsor the foundation. Your entire sponsorship goes go the the Children's Hospital fund

Wanted!

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