Who are Estonia's streets named after?
And what does it tell us about Estonia?
Now we've found out how many streets are named after men and women in Estonia, let's take a closer look at who those people are, what they did, and why they're remembered.
Across Estonia's 10 largest cities, three women have streets named after them in comparison with more than 100 men.
Data from The Mapping Diversity Project shows that while most men honored in public space are connected to military victories or politics, women are closely linked with culture.
But this is not the case in Estonia.
Analysis shows more than half of the people with streets named after them in Estonia are cultural figures. This is a total of 73. The next most common category was science which 10, followed by the military with eight.
The majority of cultural figures are writers (22), painters (13), and poets (11). There are also more than five sculptures and composers.
Biographical data shows the majority are connected with the National Awakening movement (Ärkamisaeg), which started in the 1850s and ended in 1917 when Estonia declared independence.
This period saw the emergence of a strong national identity, including the first written texts and media published in the Estonian language, and the belief they could be self-governing rather than controlled by the Baltic Germans who had governed the land for hundreds of years.
Until Estonians gained independence, they had spent hundreds of years as surfs in the Russian empire, unable to have a say in their own futures or own property.
The National Awakening is, therefore, a seminal moment in Estonian history, which explains why so many of the people who took part are remembered today.
But who were these people?
Despite the fact that so few women are remembered in Estonia's public space, the person who has the most streets named after them is a woman: Lydia Koidula.
In the top 10 cities, seven have streets named after the poet, and another, Pärnu, has a named a park in her honor.
In total, 16 streets across the country are named after Lydia Koidula.
Koidula has a special place in Estonia's history because she was seen as a symbol of resistance during the Soviet occupation (1944-1991), researcher Piret Karro says.
She is followed by teacher and playwright Juhan Kunder and writer, politician and teacher Carl Robert Jakobson who were both leading figures in the National Awakening movement. Both have four streets named after them.
Kunder's streets are in Tallinn – one main road and one side road, Viljandi, and Rakvere.
Jakobson's are in Tallinn, Tartu, Viljandi, and Pärnu.
Those with three names are chess grandmaster Paul Keres, newspaper founder and editor Johann Voldemar Jannsen, and writers Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Eduard Vilde, A. H. Tammsaare, and August Kitzberg.
Keres is the only person born in the 20th century to have more than one street named after him.
There are 11 people who have two streets named after them.
In total, in these 10 cities there are 135 streets named after people that feature first and second names. Only five of these historical figures are women.
Karro believes the reason that so many men are remembered is because when Estonia's history was rewritten in the 1990s, it was done so by men who were not interested in women's achievements.
"This reflects a larger phenomenon of mediocre men getting more attention and praise than super cool women," she said in a recent interview.
"The women who have been participating in the building of this democracy have been forgotten."
Lydia Koidula
Lydia Koidula
Juhan Kunder
Juhan Kunder
Carl Robert Jakobson
Carl Robert Jakobson
Paul Keres
Paul Keres
Men and women with more than one street named after them in Estonia's 10 biggest cities
Lydia Koidula (1843-1886)
Poet, editor, and writer. She is Estoina’s national poet.
Seven streets
Juhan Kunder (1852-1888)
Teacher, poet, playwright, author of natural history textbooks, and folklore collector. Four streets
Carl Robert Jakobson (1841-1882)
Writer, newspaper founder, politician, and teacher. Four streets.
Johann Voldemar Jannsen (1819-1890)
Newspaper founder, cultural figure, and writer during the National Awakening movement. Three streets.
Friedrich R Kreutzwald (1803–1882)
Poet, writer, and creator of the national epic Kalevipoeg. Three streets.
August Kitzberg (1855-1927)
Dramatist and prose writer, who also published satirical stories and verses. Three streets.
Paul Keres (1916-1975)
Chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s. Three streets.
Eduard Vilde (1865-1933)
One of the founders of the Estonian novel, journalist, and diplomat during the First Republic. Three streets.
A. H. Tammsaare (1878-1940)
Writer whose five-part series Truth and Justice is one of the most important works of Estonian literature. Three streets.
Karl August Hermann(1851–1909)
Writer, publicist, linguist, and composer.
Two streets.
Juhan Smuul (1922-1971)
Poet, prose writer, and playwright.
Two streets.
Nikolai Lunin (1854–1937)
Russian scientist who discovered vitamins. He studied at Estonia’s University of Tartu. Two streets.
August Weizenberg (1837–1921)
Sculptor.
Two streets.
Julius Kuperjanov (1894–1919)
Military officer, partisan battalion commander. One of the liberators of Tartu during the War of Independence. Two streets.
Jaan Koort (1883-1935)
Sculptor, painter, and ceramicist.
Two streets.
Lev Tolstoi (1828-1910)
Russian author who wrote War and Peace.
Two streets.
Johann Köler (1826-1899)
A leader of Estonia’s national awakening movement. He is also the first professional painter. Two streets.
Nikolai von Glehn (1841-1923)
Baltic German landowner and public figure. Founder of the town of Nõmme (now part of Tallinn). Two streets.
Juhan Liiv (1864-1913)
One of Estonia's most famous poets and prose writers.
Two streets.
Amandus Adamson (1855-1929)
Sculptor and painter.
Two streets.
Read the other articles in this series
1. How many streets in Estonia are named after women?
Mapping the gender balance and diversity of Estonia's public space.
3. Meet the women Estonia’s streets are named after
Who are they and what did they do?
4. Escape the kitchen and explore the skies!
The first comprehensive exhibition of Estonia's women's rights movements opened this year.
