Postal Explorer > Publication 28 - Postal Addressing Standards > Appendix H Standard Abbreviations for Spanish-Language Addresses

Appendix H
Standard Abbreviations for Spanish-Language Addresses

In many areas of the country, street names are influenced by Hispanic culture. In these areas, Spanish prefix words such as AVENIDA, CALLE, and CAMINO are frequently used as the first word of the street name and often combined with prepositional phrases such as de, la, de las, and the noun they are describing. For example, AVENIDA DE LA ESTRELLA and CAMINO DE LAS VILLAS are Hispanic words called prefixes because they normally occur at the beginning of the street name, while the English translation would be placed as a suffix in an address.

When the number of characters available for output on a mailpiece is restricted by the size of the label or other considerations, abbreviations and other data compression methods are frequently employed. While it is the preference of the Postal Service that all words in a mailing address appear fully spelled out, this section is intended to provide a set of standard abbreviations to be used when mailers encounter the following Spanish prefixes in the delivery address line and there is a need to compress the output to the mailpiece.