The Name behind the Name

« The old Arabia ceramicworks factory. »

Somewhere between obsession and compulsion lies tenacity which comes with age when you're too damn lazy to be so compulsive anymore so that you ruminate about the things you can remember in spite of your awful short-term memory and try to get solutions and answers for the things that don't fall through the cracks, usually the insignificant and the inane which matter to nobody but yourself, which only adds to the appeal. Someday I will find an answer for just how melba toast got its name and how the Keebler Elves manage to slice it so thinly but, until then, I will wait for opportunity to strike. A while back I found a silly jpg out on the net somewhere that featured some ridiculous text that, though I've yet to confirm it, originated in some Nordic-American humour book suggesting that Arabia was named so to give the Finnish ceramic products an exotic appeal.

This sent me on an obsessive mission to find out what is the deal with the multi-culti names in a country that in 1840, much less today, is not exactly the crossroads of trade and multiculturalism. The Arabia website had a tiny blurb about the factory taking the name from the plot of ground it was built upon, but said nothing about how the name came to be before then. I even got an email from someone who wrote: "one old-timer working in Arabia-factory told me that the whole area of Arabia and its streets got their names when one of inhabitants came back from his travels in real Arabia." That sounded like a cool explanation but urban legends often have that more-exciting-than-reality kind of appeal to them. I emailed Arabia for more information but didn't get a response, so I asked Jarkko who might know the answer to this burning question and he emailed the Helsinki City Museum. Jarkko received a very thorough reply from Jere Jäppinen of the museum, who also mentioned that there is a 3-volume set of books available from the museum shop containing all the Helsinki naming trivia you could ever hope for should those with similar burning questions about local names be wondering where to look for answers.

Q: Mikä on historia Arabia-nimen takana?

A: Kansa nimesi syrjäisiä paikkoja 1700-luvulla ja 1800-luvun alkupuolella toisinaan Raamatussa mainittujen seutujen mukaan, mikä tavallaan leikkimielessä viittasi niiden etäisyyteen. Helsingin Vanhastakaupungista tunnetaan tuolta ajalta paikannimet Jerikonniitty, Kaanaanmaa ja Arabianpelto. Kun kaupunkialueen ulkopuolisia maa-alueita alettiin vuokrata asumis-, viljelys- ja teollisuuskäyttöön 1840-luvulla, lohkotuille tonteille annettiin usein värikkäitä nimiä. Niinpä kallioinen alue nykyisen Eduskuntatalon tienoilla sai nimen Arkadia muinaisen Kreikan vuorimaakunnan mukaan ja vielä jylhempi alue Töölönlahden pohjoispäässä sai peräti nimen Alpen eli Alpit (nykyisin alueen nimi on Alppila - Alphyddan alueella sijainneen Alphyddan- eli Alppimaja-nimisen ravintolan mukaan). Yhtä luontevasti Arabian tontti sai vuonna 1840 nimen alueen vanhojen kansanomaisten nimitysten perusteella. On sattumaa, että ruotsalainen Rörstrand-yhtiö hankki juuri tämän tontin posliini- ja fajanssitehtaansa käyttöön 1874 ja että tehdas itsenäistyessään 1884 otti nimekseen Arabia Aktiefabrik. Arabian nimi on myös innoittanut Kumpulan eksoottiset kadunnimet kuten Jaavan- ja Sumatrantien sekä Intian- ja Syyriankadun.

Q: What is the history behind the Arabia name?

A: In the 1700s and in the beginning of 1800s, citizens sometimes named distant places after biblical areas, which in a way jocularly referred to their distance. Areas around Oldtown (Vanhakaupunki) known at the time were named Jerikonniitty (Glade of Jericho), Kaanaanmaa (Land of Caanaa), and Arabianpelto (Field of Arabia). When, in the 1840s, the area was beginning to be split into housing, tilling, and industrial use, the lots were often given colourful names. Therefore the rocky area around the current Parliament House was given the name Arcadia after the ancient mountainous province of Greece and the even rougher area at the northern end of Töölö Bay was given the name Alpen or the Alps (nowadays the area is called Alppila ("Alps-shire"?) after the restaurant Alphyddan ("Alps cabin") that used to be located in that area. Naturally, the lot of Arabia was named in 1840 after the old commonly known names. It is by chance that the Swedish company Rörstrand acquired just that lot for its porcelain and glazing factory in 1874, and that the factory, when becoming an independent company in 1884, took as its name "Arabia Aktiefabrik". The name Arabia has also inspired the exotic street names of Kumpula, Jaavantie and Sumatrantie ("Java Road" and "Sumatra Road"), and Intiankatu ja Syyriankatu ("India Street" and "Syria Street").