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

Laulu (Laul)

Song, singing, ditty, ballad. Thought to be thus named for being squished between the Kandle, Sulevi and Ilmarise quadrangle, but TT states it was it was originally named – prior to the latters’ existence and irrespective of all three – after Pauline Laulu, local landowner (although she may well have sung from time to time too, gospels perhaps?... ;o). Also, coincidentally, not far from Tallinn Music High School.

Laulupeo (Laulupidu)

Song festival (one of the great events in the Estonian calendar). Try and imagine over 100,000 people all singing the same songs, mostly from memory, for hours on end. In comparison, a recent survey found that the average Brit knew 4.74 words ad nauseam of Auld Lang Syne. Rare in Tallinn, the street has changed its name only once (1923) since its creation as Laulupidu (see Pidu for discussion of genitive pidu/peo) in 1921 (KNAB) although TAAK says it was built for the VIIth song festival in 1910, making it even longer. Singing means something to Estonians...

Lauri (?)

Named after nearby former farm, short for Laurentius, related to Laurits, St Lawrence, 3rd‑C martyr, reputed to have been roasted on a griddle, but probably just decapitated with a plain old sword. Unrelated to Laurimaa, 18 km away.

Laurimaa (Laurimaa)

Laur family’s land. After a farm apparently built on former Mardipere land. See Lauripere.

Lauripere (Lauripere)

Laur family, household, farm. Both this and Laurimaa after a farm of that name. See also Mardipere.

Lauristini J.

(Johannes Lauristin, 1899-1941)

Estonian politician and communist. Serial prisoner, forced labor twice: seven years (1923-1931) then six until the (probably) Konstantin Päts amnesty of 1938. Died either during an evacuation or, some suggest, assassinated by the NKVD. Soviet occupation renaming (1944?-1989) of Roosikrantsi.

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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.