This time in our article series Streets & Squares we will go to Rovaniemi, a city in northern Finland - a polar circle city as it is situated on the 66th degree of latitude, or more precisely about 6 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle. The Sami name for the city include Ruávinj_a_rgâ, Roavvenjárga, Roavenjárga, and Ruäʹvnjargg.
As always in Streets & Squares, clicking on the address links leads you to Google Maps, and clicking on the names to the person’s Wikipedia page.
As there are very few eponymous street names in Rovaniemi, this time Streets & Squares serves as a simple translater for the streets - the street names often taken from nature and the surrounding area in Northern Finland. All these streets will be translated into English. The Finnish name is in italics, the translation in bold.
The next Streets & Squares article will be about the Ukrainian capital Kyiv/Kiev!
Some vocabulary: aukio (square), katu (street), polku (path), tie (road). Tie is pronounced “tee-eh”.
ANGRY BIRDS THEATRE PARK - The park is named of course for Angry Birds, the action-based media franchise created by the Finnish company Rovio Entertainment. There is also a playground bearing their name nearby. StreetView
INAPOLKU - Ina means a very short distance or trip. Appropriate name perhaps for a path? StreetView
JORMA ETON TIE - Jorma Etto (1931-2016) was a librarian, journalist and writer who was born in Rovaniemi. StreetView
KOSKIKATU - Koski means rapids. StreetView
LAPINKÄVIJÄNTIE - Lapinkävijä means more or less Wanderer of Lapland. StreetView
LORDI-AUKIO, i.e. Lordi Square. Named for the Finnish heavy metal band Lordi that won the European Song Contest 2006 with their song Hard Rock Hallelujah. StreetView
POROMIEHENTIE - Poromies means reindeer man, so this is Street of the Reindeer man. StreetView
ROVAKATU - Rova means more or less ridge, comes from the Saame language word roavvi, i.e. a ridge with trees. Rovakatu is largely a pedestrian zone. StreetView
RUOKASENKATU - named after the family Ruokanen/Ala-Ruokanen, influential in the 19th century Rovaniemi. StreetView
TUKKIPOJANTIE - Tukkipoika means logboy. StreetView
UKKOHERRANTIE - Ukkoherra means forest technician who used to have quite a lot of say employing people in the forest industry. StreetView
A to Ö FROM ROVANIEMI
i.e. a list of people born in Rovaniemi. Just another fun way to know something more about the city. We pick a couple of people for each alphabet, if possible. The numbers you see at the end of each line indicate the year of birth. This list is updated from time to time. And last but not least: the flag, logo or coat of arms of the city – if there is one!
A - Antti Autti* snowboarder/WG (1985)
B -
H - Antti Hyvärinen* ski jumper/OG/coach (1932)
I -
K - Veeti Kallio* (b Seliverstow) singer/actor/masseur (1966) - Marko Kilpi* police officer/crime writer/politician (1969) - Matti Keskinarkaus* ski-orienteering/WG/ commercial pilot (1976)
L - Liisa Laakso* academic/ political analyst (1961)
M - Hannu Manninen* athlete/Nordic combined (1978)
N -
O - Esko Ollila* bank manager/politician (1940) - Harri Olli* ski jumper (1985)
P - Tomi Petteri Putaansuu* musician (Mr Lordi) (1974) - Sanna-Leena Perunka* biathlete/color commentator (1976) - Tanja Poutiainen* alpine skier/OS (1980)
R -
S - Matti Suur-Hamari* para-snowboarder/OG (1986)
T - Jouko Törmänen* ski jumper (1954) - Jari Tervo* author/television personality (1959) - Antti Tuisku* singer (1984)
U -
Y - Kari Ylianttila* ski jumper (1953)
PS. Congratulations Team Finland for winning Gold in Olympic Icehockey 2022 !
Updated 19.6.2023