Named after Blindengasse, the ‘lane of the blind’, after a school for blind people.
The lane was named in 1862 after the Blindeninstitut, Austria's first institute for the blind, founded in 1804 by Johann Wilhelm Klein. It stood at today's No. 33 from 1829 until it moved to the Leopoldstadt in 1898. Part of the lane was earlier called Brunngasse, after a constantly flowing well at the institute – a rarity in this high-lying area.