Where do our restaurants get their names from?
Botta
The name of the house of the Student Nations, which cherishes their pride in their origins, was a natural choice —a Latinized translation of the Swedish name for the province of Ostrobothnia, Österbotten.
In users’ mouths, the name soon became the more succinct Botta. When a separate company was established in the early 1970s to manage the house’s restaurant operations, this nickname was formalised as the name of the new limited company.
The house’s name, Ostrobotnia, has also been used as the name of the restaurant and the banqueting floor. Variations of the name have also been used for other occasions, such as Club Ostrobotnia or Botnia Club.
Today, the name is used in two forms: in the company’s name and on Botta Events, which operates on the meeting and event floors.
St. Urho's Pub
In the early 1970s, when the idea for a pub was being considered, a visit was made to England to learn about its traditional pub culture. The research team noted that various saints were a recurring feature in the names of the pubs. In Finland, this was not considered a good fit, especially since the best-known saint from the Catholic era is St. Henry. He even belongs to a completely different provincial tradition from the Ostrobotnia house patriarchs.
When considering the equivalent of a saint in Finland, “the Father of the Country”, President Urho Kekkonen, was the most appropriate counterpart – or at least some thought so. Of course, permission to use the name was sought from the President himself via the Chancellery. Urho Kekkonen was present at the bar’s opening, although it was a secret from the public. He made a more public inspection later in the autumn of 1973.
The popularity of the name was not entirely undivided at first. The most ardent Kekkonen critic of the house feared that foreign policy realism would take over the house so thoroughly that the Old Manala on the Töölönkatu side would be named Hyvä Sylvi (Good Sylvi) or Pyhä Sylvi (Holy Sylvi) – in honour of Kekkonen’s wife.
As an interesting curiosity, while the American Finns were considering a national saint, they also came up with the fictitious holy figure of Urho around the same time.
Manala
The origin of the name Manala (Underworld) cannot be fully confirmed; however, there are two different versions. Let everyone choose the one they like!
The other story claims that the name originates from the Old Student House (Vanha Ylioppilastalo) in Mannerheimintie, where the Ostrobothnian Student Nations resided before relocating to Etu-Töölö. On party nights, tired students could crawl to the basement for a refreshing rest. This resting room, where rest was not always gently granted, was called Orchus, as it was known as the Underworld (Manala) in classical times. From there, the name would have been carried over to the restaurant in the new Student Nations building.
According to another source, the name is borrowed from the Eesti Üliõpilaste Selts (Estonian Society of Students), which has been the Student Nations friendship society since 1928. Their house has Põrgu, or hell, in the basement. The borrowing could have been done from north to south, though.
Colloquially, the restaurant downstairs in Ostrobotnia is also known as Alakerta (the Downstairs). Still, this name has never been used as an official business name and is now remembered only by a selected few.
Dagmar Bistro & Wine Bar
The history of the name Dagmar is still fresh in our minds, and it is easy to see its origins. The bistro and wine bar were named after the street on which it is located.
Dagmarinkatu was named in 1906 after Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna (1847-1928), the wife of Emperor Alexander III. In Finland, the Empress, and later the Empress Dowager, was commonly known during her lifetime by her original name, Dagmar. She was Princess Dagmar of Denmark.
At the beginning of the last century, the new street names in Helsinki were likely chosen to commemorate the Empress Dowager, who was known for being a great friend and advocate of Finland. Since Helsinki had already had Mariankatu since 1820, it was decided to name the new street after her Danish name.
Also, a hospital had already been named in honour of Maria Feodorovna in 1894. So, the Maria Hospital, now a start-up incubator, takes its name from the then-empress.
