The neighborhood name means in Finnish 'Tiny Felt Bay' (after the original name in Swedish, Lillhoplax, was phonetically but inaccurately translated into Huopalahti in Finnish), with a bay of the same name forming most of the neighborhood edge on its West side, surrounded by a large park.

Helsinki's subdivision system uniquely divides Pikku Huopalahti as belonging to 3 separate city districts.

The headquarters of McDonald's Finland is located in Pikku Huopalahti on Paciuksenkatu, in a large cylindrical building designed by Heikkinen-Komonen architects.

The neighborhood is also known as having a 'Legoland' effect because the buildings, mostly constructed in the past 20 years, all prominently display basic geometric patterns such as circles, squares, and triangles on the residential housing.

City districts partly forming and/or surrounding Pikku-Huopalahti are Meilahti, Munkkiniemi, Munkkivuori, Niemenmäki, Etelä-Haaga and Ruskeasuo.