# Street Suffix

Key: `geography.address.street_suffix`

Street type abbreviation or suffix (St, Ave, Blvd, Rd, Ln, Way, Ct, Dr, etc.). Locale-specific.

Page: <https://meridian.online/docs/projects/finetype/types/geography/address/street_suffix>

Samples: `Street`, `Avenue`, `Boulevard`, `Road`

## Background

### Origin

Wikipedia describes a street suffix as the part of a street or road name that describes what type of road it is.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_suffix) Wikipedia notes that street suffixes are often abbreviated because they are commonly repeated between roads, giving St. for Street as an example.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_suffix) Wikipedia notes that in some languages the street suffix precedes the name and is thus a street prefix, as in rue Pasteur.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_suffix) Wikipedia notes that in Wales it is common to use Welsh-language suffixes, such as Ffordd, Heol and Stryd, which usually precede the name.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_suffix)

In the United States, the Postal Service lists street suffixes in Appendix C1 of Publication 28, Postal Addressing Standards.[[2]](https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28apc_002.htm) The edition of Publication 28 on the Postal Service's Postal Explorer site is dated October 2024.[[3]](https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/welcome.htm) The Appendix C1 table lists primary street suffix names, commonly used street suffixes or abbreviations, and the recommended official Postal Service standard suffix abbreviation.[[2]](https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28apc_002.htm) The Publication 28 suffix table lists AV, AVE, AVEN, AVENU, AVENUE, AVN and AVNUE as commonly used forms of AVENUE, with AVE as the Postal Service standard suffix abbreviation.[[2]](https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28apc_002.htm) When an address has two consecutive words that appear on the suffix table, Publication 28 abbreviates the second word as the suffix and treats the first word as part of the street name.[[4]](https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28c2_015.htm)

The Federal Geographic Data Committee endorsed the United States Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Address Data Standard in February 2011.[[5]](https://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/address-data) The United States Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Address Data Standard has the document number FGDC-STD-016-2011.[[5]](https://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/address-data) The U.S. Census Bureau is the maintenance authority for FGDC-STD-016-2011.[[5]](https://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/address-data) In an XML example in Part 3 of FGDC-STD-016-2011, the address 123 Main Street is stored with Main as the StreetName and Street as the StreetNamePostType.[[6]](https://fgdc.gov/standards/projects/address-data/AddressDataStandardPart03)

### Use

The Publication 28 suffix table gives CT as the Postal Service standard suffix abbreviation for COURT.[[2]](https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28apc_002.htm) Canada Post says a French street type is printed before the street name when the street name isn't an ordinal number, and after it when the street name is an ordinal number.[[7]](https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/support/articles/addressing-guidelines/civic-address.page) Canada Post notes that sometimes the street type is also the street name, as in THE PARKWAY.[[7]](https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/support/articles/addressing-guidelines/civic-address.page)

## Sources

1. [Street suffix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_suffix) — secondary source
2. [C1 Street Suffix Abbreviations \| Postal Explorer](https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28apc_002.htm) — standard
3. [Publication 28 - Postal Addressing Standards \| Postal Explorer](https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/welcome.htm) — standard
4. [234 Suffixes \| Postal Explorer](https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28c2_015.htm) — standard
5. [United States Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Address Data Standard — Federal Geographic Data Committee](https://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/address-data) — catalogue entry
6. [United States Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Address Data Standard, Part 3: Address Data Classification](https://fgdc.gov/standards/projects/address-data/AddressDataStandardPart03) — standard
7. [Addressing guidelines - Civic address \| Canada Post](https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/support/articles/addressing-guidelines/civic-address.page) — documentation