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

Planeedi (Planeet)

Planet. Celestial street-name group. See also Saturni.

Plangu (Plank)

Plank, board, fence, railing, palisade. Probably named for (an apparently now-defunct) local sawmill.

Plasti (Plast)

Plastic. Named after the Salvo plastics company once located at Leningradi 81. Founded in Tallinn in 1948 as a cooperative-artel for disabled people, employing 15, it grew into one of Estonia’s largest companies. At its peak, its 1150-plus staff manufactured products ranging from bakelite utensils, dolls, board games, goggles and helmets, to skis and hockey pucks. Following Restoration of Independence, the company was gradually sold off and, in 2008, one year after the street’s naming, liquidated. Road planned to run (one day) from Peterburi to Punane.

Plate torn (0) Symbol designating a Point of Interest.

Herbord Plaete (fl. late 14th / early 15th C), wealthy burgher of Tallinn, tower chief. See also Saunatorn.

Pleekmägi (0)

Lit. Bleach hill. Two names for two locations: Pleekmäe paik (area, place...) and Pleekmägi, which suspiciously look like they refer to the same plot, geo-referenced some 50 m apart. Bleachfields or bleaching-greens were outdoor areas used by textile workers to lay out fabric to bleach in the glorious Estonian sun, a definite improvement on the legacy Roman method of fulling, or treading it in stale urine and letting the ammonia work its magic. Despite the two names, and given the distance between them, the area probably spread SE from Pleekmäe paik just east of Kaasani church at ///knocking.trainer.fancied to Pleekmägi at ///await.blossom.glosses, a good 250 m NW of Liivamäe. Given the lengths involved and time required (1-2 months in the UK, so probably more Estonia), the area was probably quite large and may well have spread further SE, all the more so since the Tallinna Linna Plaan of 1922 seems to show the area south of then Aafrika (see Võistluse) as being a hill, which may have stretched the area even further S or E of Liivamäe. Locations first recorded in the 16th C as Pleekmäe, Bleichberg and up der bleke (Pleekmägi, TT) and Pleekmääl (1723), pleeksmäggi and der Bleichs-Berg (1732), then Blekmaye, and Bleekmay (Pleekmäe paik, KNAB), but precise dating and sequencing is unclear.

Ploomi (Ploom)

Plum, prune. One-time name of Kiige (1940-1941), and name of another street in Haabersti that was scratched in 2010.

Page 191 of 315

Advertise...

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.

Sponsorship logo top bare

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.