List of suffixes for street names

This is a list of many common and local examples but is not comprehensive. Other common and local terms may be used.

Suffix

Definition and Common Usage

All vehicles

Pedestrian way or footpath

Acre

Can refer to a small residential street leading to an open space.

Alley

A narrow passageway between or behind buildings usually refers to a rear service road or pedestrian way used as access to garages or gardens. Can also be a path lined with trees, bushes, or stones.

Approach

Usually refers to a path or road that leads to a place such as a railway/bus station.

Arcade

Usually a covered walkway with retail/commercial units along it.

Arch

Usually refers to a curving street, often in the shape of an arch, used similar to Crescent. Often used for residential streets which are near water or for development adjacent to a harbour or river where vessels can dock or moor, or where the street passes under an arch.

Avenue

Can refer to a small residential street or a major roadway, usually indicates a wide straight road, often tree-lined, that is of major importance.

Bank

Usually used for streets that have an edge, embankment, or verge.

Boulevard

A wide street or open space typically lined with trees.

Bow

May be linked to historical use or feature in area.

Bridge

Specific use to define a street or pedestrianised way.

Broadway

A large open or main road.

Brook

Usually used for residential streets that run near to a brook, river or stream.

Brow

A street on the top of a hill or ridge.

Bypass

Road that bypasses a nearby settlement.

Chase

Usually used for small residential streets in a valley or for streets built on hunting land.

Circus

A large roundabout or circular street.

Close

Used for any dead-end street or no through road.

Common

Refers to residential streets in recreational areas or open parks.

Court

Often used for streets that form a square or rectangle, similar to the use of Square.

Corner

May be linked to historical use or feature in area.

Crescent

Usually a short curved street.

Cross

May be linked to historical use or feature in area.

Croft

Usually a short street built on a small farm.

Dale

Usually refers to a street built in a valley or basin. Similar use to Vale or Valley.

Dene

Usually associated with a deep, narrow, wooded valley of a small river.

Drive

A very common suffix commonly used in suburban areas both for residential streets and major roadways.

Drove

Associated with rural areas relating to movement of livestock

End

Usually associated with a street which comes to a natural end with no further possibility for development beyond.

Field

Usually used for residential streets that run through fields or grassland.

Fold

Usually used for a street in a small valley in a hilly area.

Gardens

Usually used to designate a street populated by garden homes (subject to there being no confusion with any local open space).

Gate

An historical name believed to originate from the Norse element ‘Gata’ which means a way through a settlement.

Ginnel

Similar localised usage to Passage, Alley, Twitten.

Grange

May be linked to historical use or feature in area.

Green

Usually a small residential street, often with a park-like setting. Can be used for the naming of a location.

Grove

Usually a small residential street, usually surrounded by woods.

Heights

Usually refers to a short residential street that travels uphill or is on top of high ground compared to neighbouring streets.

Hill

Usually refers to a street that travels up or upon a hill.

Lane

Commonly used for narrow roads, especially in the countryside.

Lea

Usually used for paths or residential streets that run through fields, similar to the use of Field.

Leasow/ Leasowe

Similar to the use of Field or Lea.

Market

Historic or intended use.

Mead

Usually used for a former grassland site or where the development includes, proposes, or is adjacent to a field.

Meadow

Usually used for paths or residential streets that run through fields, similar to the use of Field.

Mews

Usually a small residential street lined with small houses. Often used as a term for converted stables in a courtyard or lane or a short road at the rear of, and parallel to, a terrace of buildings.

Mile

A pedestrianised way.

Mount

Usually a street on the top of a hill or ridge.

Nook

Usually a small street in a corner or recess.

Parade

A name for a road running by the seafront or a road with shops along it.

Pasture

Usually used for paths or residential streets that run through fields, similar to the use of Field.

Pass

Usually refers to a street that travels through a valley or over a hill.

Passage

A pedestrianised way.

Path

A pedestrianised way.

Park

Refers to residential streets that contain or run through playing fields, recreational areas, country gardens or parks.

Place

Usually a small residential street, a narrow street or an open space in a commercial development.

Plaza

Often refers to either a pedestrianised way or a suburban shopping area's internal ways or open space in a commercial development.

Reach

Usually associated with a street leading to a river or sea.

Rise

Usually refers to a street that is on a hill, similar to the use of Hill.

Road

A very common suffix used to describe a way that leads from one place to another in both residential and commercial areas but is used extensively for other types of streets.

Row

Usually refers to particularly narrow streets with identical townhouses but is also commonly used for any residential street.

Score

Believed to have originated from the Old English 'skor', meaning to make a cut or line.

Side

May be linked to historical use or feature in area.

Street

A very common suffix for a road in a town or city with houses or other buildings along it, can be small residential, intermediate, and major arterial roadways.

Square

Often used for streets that form a square or rectangle, often with a park or a large square at their centre, used for markets, gatherings, etc.

Terrace

Historically was a small residential street that was elevated above the surroundings, for example, on a hillside, but is now used in a more generic way to describe a residential street for 2 or more adjoining buildings.

Twitten

May be linked to historical use or feature or path in area.

Vale

Usually refers to a street built in a valley or basin. Similar to the use of Dale or Valley.

Valley

Usually refers to a street built in a valley or basin. Similar to the use of Dale or Vale

View

Usually used for streets that have a vista or panoramic outlook.

Quay

Usually used for residential streets which are near water or for development adjacent to a harbour, canal or river where vessels can dock or mooring.

Walk

Usually designates a pedestrian-only space.

Way

Used to describe a street or path that leads from one place to another. Wide range of use, from an alley-like pedestrian way definition to a residential street, to a major roadway in new developments.

Yard

Historically used for streets or pedestrianised way that form a square or rectangle, used for markets, gatherings, etc.

See also: