The name Podmolnik is a fused prepositional phrase that has lost case inflection, literally meaning 'below Molnik Hill' (< pod 'below' + Molnik). Molnik Hill, which stands south of the settlement, was attested in written sources in 1421 as Mellnik (and as Mellnikg in 1422 and Melnikh in 1490). The medieval forms of the name indicate that the hill was originally called *Melnik, which could be derived from the common noun mel 'scree'. A less likely theory derives the name from an Illyrian substatum word meaning 'mountain, hill'.[3]