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

Vana

Vana (Vana)

Old. Also used in compound street-names. Soviet occupation renaming (1950-1987) of Vaimu. Didn’t last.

Vana-Keldrimäe

Vana-Keldrimäe (Vana-Keldrimägi)

Old Cellar hill, see Keldrimäe. Previously Drewingi, Drevingi, Grevingi, after local gentleman with a name hard for Estonians to pronounce, Historically, native words do not start with ‘D’, or even ‘G’, so the above may perhaps represent an awareness of foreign-ness and corresponding attempt to reproduce it and make it sound foreign, as in, e.g., French Le Jean’s Shop where the apostrophe is incorrect but looks English. See Mäe for discussion.

Vana-Posti

Vana-Posti (Vana-Post)

Old Post, or mail. Known first as quappen strathe or platea / vicus quappenstrate (1367-73), lutso ulits (1732), or Quappenstraße (1737) after the burbots (Lat. Lota lota, Ger. Quappe, Est. luts:lutsu) in the pond in the moat ‘upstream’ of nearby Karjaveski (Karja värav watermill) and, given the distance, perhaps the ditches or water channels running along the road from there. In 1780. Tallinn set up a post office on the corner of Harju, resulting in its next name of Poststraße which, when the PO moved to the corner of Vene and Pühavaimu in 1829, added Alte Poststraße to its name with all-round confusion until the present was setttled upon.

Vana-Rannamõisa

Vana-Rannamõisa (Vana-Rannamõis)

Old Rannamõisa. Ironically, its old name (pre 1977) was without the vana.

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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.