Raudalu (Raudalu)
No street, Sub-district only. In the early 19th C, there was a street called, indiscriminately, Raudalsche Straße, Raudarrosche Straße and Rappelsche Straße. While you can discern the original destination in the last German name, in Estonian it stands out loud and clear: Rapla. The contemporary Estonian counterparts Raudalu and Raudaru were after a local inn called Raudaru Kõrts (from raud: iron + aru: meadow, see Raua and Aru, but why?), aka Uerist (1798, but why’er? It sorta sounds like a mispronunication... although it could also come from ‑vere, see Aedvere), or Raud Arro (1725) in German and Raudorakrog, etc. (1697) in Swedish. Confusion was a no-brainer. Name changed in 1949 to Viljandi to which it also leads, if you have the time. Last word?... Arro is and was a common-enough surname and the original name may well have been based on ‘Arro’s smithy’.
