# writing street numbers



## R@resh

How do people write the numbers associated with the street in the anglophone world? I can't decide between:

Cambridge Street number 5
5 Cambridge Street 
5th Cambridge Street 
or alternatively Cambridge Street 5th

What do you think?


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## Loob

In the UK it would be


R@resh said:


> 5 Cambridge Street


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## User With No Name

Same in the U.S.

ADDED FYI: Also, in case you were wondering, ordinals like 5th in U.S. addresses typically refer to numbered streets. So "123 5th Street" would be a typical address, referring to the house numbered 123 on "Fifth Street."


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## R@resh

User With No Name said:


> Same in the U.S.
> 
> ADDED FYI: Also, in case you were wondering, ordinals like 5th in U.S. addresses typically refer to numbered streets. So "123 5th Street" would be a typical address, referring to the house numbered 123 on "Fifth Street."




Yes, my question was about the numbered Streets. But I can't make up my mind without an exact example. 

 " 345 5th Cambridge street"
Is this a good example?

Or "345 5th Cambridge"?


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## Roxxxannne

Streets in the US are not called "5th Cambridge St."  They're either "Cambridge Street" or "Fifth Street."
345 Cambridge Street
and
345 Fifth Street
are typical addresses in the US.

In some cities and towns, it's customary to leave out 'Street' in an address when it's written informally: 345 Shadyside instead of 345 Shadyside Street.


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## R@resh

Roxxxannne said:


> Streets in the US are not called "5th Cambridge St."  They're either "Cambridge Street" or "Fifth Street."
> 345 Cambridge Street
> and
> 345 Fifth Street
> are typical addresses in the US.
> 
> In some cities and towns, it's customary to leave out 'Street' in an address when it's written informally: 345 Shadyside instead of 345 Shadyside Street.



Thanks for clarifying.


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## R@resh

Loob said:


> In the UK it would be



Hi. So 5 is the number of the street?
So "5 Cambridge Street" would be correct?


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## entangledbank

Yes, in both countries it's the *house number*, then the name of the street.

*5* Cambridge Street
*5* Fifth Street


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## JulianStuart

5 is the number of the _house_ on Cambridge Sreet.


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## R@resh

entangledbank said:


> Yes, in both countries it's the *house number*, then the name of the street.
> 
> *5* Cambridge Street
> *5* Fifth Street



I see. But I want to write the number of the street, because in my country streets are numbered. should I write

5th Cambridge Street 
Or
Cambridge Street number 5?


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## JulianStuart

R@resh said:


> I see. But I want to write the number of the street, because in my country streets are numbered. should I write
> 
> 5th Cambridge Street
> Or
> Cambridge Street number 5?


You were asking about the "Anglophone" world, not your home country.
In your question, are there 5 different streets whose name is Cambridge Street?


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## R@resh

JulianStuart said:


> You were asking about the "Anglophone" world, not your home country.
> In your question, are there 5 different streets whose name is Cambridge Street?



Yes. There are 5 different Cambridge streets.  How do I write down the fifth street?


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## JulianStuart

R@resh said:


> Yes. There are 5 different Cambridge streets.  How do I write down the fifth street?


That doesn't happen (to my knowledge) in Anglophone countries so we don't have a convention (or need) on how to do it!  One way might be "23 Cambridge Street #5" but it would be confused with unit/apartment/flat #5 in that house, so it wouldn't work.


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## R@resh

JulianStuart said:


> That doesn't happen (to my knowledge) in Anglophone countries so we don't have a convention (or need) on how to do it!  One way might be "23 Cambridge Street #5" but it would be confused with unit/apartment/flat #5 in that house, so it wouldn't work.



I see. Thank you anyway. Best regards.


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## Loob

I think that if there were two different Cambridge Streets in the same town, then 
- in written addresses they would be differentiated by their postcodes
- in speech, they'd be differentiated by describing them as "Cambridge Street off Oxford Road" or "Cambridge Street at the bottom of town" or something similar.


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## Delvo

I would try either putting the parts that could be mixed up with other on different lines or adding punctuation to separate them:

678
5th Cambridge Street
Wherever City, State, postal area #

 or

678, 5th-Cambridge Street, Wherever City...

It's not conventional, but nothing else is either, and I think people would figure it out that way.


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## JulianStuart

Delvo said:


> I would try either putting the parts that could be mixed up with other on different lines or adding punctuation to separate them:
> 
> 678
> 5th Cambridge Street
> Wherever City, State, postal area #
> 
> or
> 
> 678, 5th-Cambridge Street, Wherever City...
> 
> It's not conventional, but nothing else is either, and I think people would figure it out that way.


If such a situation really existed, the locals would have come up with a solution


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## kentix

In the U.S., two streets in the same town don't have exactly the same name. We distinguish different streets by the second part. Atlanta is one city famous for this.

There are are streets called:

Peachtree Street
Peachtree Road
Peachtree Boulevard
Peachtree Place
Peachtree Circle
Peachtree Lane

Etc.

There are many. But all the names are slightly different.


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## natkretep

You will have realised that in the English-speaking world, the convention of using both name and number for a street is not known. I will say that I am aware of this system in some parts of Malaysia, as seen here:




('Jalan' is 'road' in Malay, and 'Taban' is a kind of tree.) You will see addresses like 15 Jalan Taban 4.


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## PaulQ

R@resh said:


> There are 5 different Cambridge streets. How do I write down the fifth street?


I always think that it is a mistake to try to copy the style of, for example, UK addresses when referring to a foreign address. The foreign style should be used. 

I say this as, if I send a letter to Romania, the person who wants to read the address is the local postman - it helps him if the address is in a style that he understands.

In Germany the address system is

Herr Schmidt
5000 Köln 41
Luxemburger Strasse 276

The same address in the English system is  

Mr Smith
276 Luxemburger Street 
5000 Cologne 41


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## R@resh

PaulQ said:


> I always think that it is a mistake to try to copy the style of, for example, UK addresses when referring to a foreign address. The foreign style should be used.
> 
> I say this as, if I send a letter to Romania, the person who wants to read the address is the local postman - it helps him if the address is in a style that he understands.
> 
> In Germany the address system is
> 
> Herr Schmidt
> 5000 Köln 41
> Luxemburger Strasse 276
> 
> The same address in the English system is
> 
> Mr Smith
> 276 Luxemburger Street
> 5000 Cologne 41



The thing is, I had to send it to some english speakers. The name of the street is "Lupu" and it is the 130th street. How should I have written it for them to understand?


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## djmc

It doesn't matter if the letter is sent to English speakers. The address should be in the format used locally as PaulQ has explained. If you are sending a letter abroad use the format used there, one shouldn't try to assimilate to either the UK format or any other.


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## R@resh

djmc said:


> It doesn't matter if the letter is sent to English speakers. The address should be in the format used locally as PaulQ has explained. If you are sending a letter abroad use the format used there, one shouldn't try to assimilate to either the UK format or any other.



There are 130 streets in this country that are called "Lupu" and this one is the 130th. How can I write it down for him to understand whitout excluding the numbering of the street because it is important?


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## AutumnOwl

Do you mean how to write a return address on a letter that is yo be sent back to you? Then write the address exactly how you want the recipient to write it on the envelope, the way you would expect a person living in Romania to write it, as it's a postal worker in Romania who has to understand the address and to see that you get the letter. I have had snail mail penpals in many countries, including Romania, and I have always wrote their address exactly the way they did, as I understood as that is how an address was written in their country.


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## PaulQ

R@resh said:


> The name of the street is "Lupu" and it is the 130th street. How should I have written it for them to understand?


I've looked at Google Earth for Romania. Lupu Street is a relatively common name but the examples given are distinguished  by a postcode/zip code (and the name of the district or town), e.g.

Strada Vasile Lupu 23, 
Ploiești 100010, 
Romania

Strada Vasile Lupu 23, 
Tunari 077180, 
Romania

Strada Vasile Lupu 30A, 
Brașov 500064, 
Romania

So you explain this by adding an explanation.

Strada Vasile Lupu (Street Name) 30A (House number), 
Brașov (town or district)  500064 (postcode/zip code), 
Romania (Country.)


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## R@resh

PaulQ said:


> I've looked at Google Earth for Romania. Lupu Street is a relatively common name but the examples given are distinguished  by a postcode/zip code (and the name of the district or town), e.g.
> 
> Strada Vasile Lupu 23,
> Ploiești 100010,
> Romania
> 
> Strada Vasile Lupu 23,
> Tunari 077180,
> Romania
> 
> Strada Vasile Lupu (Street Name) 30A (House number)



Ok, I will do as you say. 

However, 30A is not the house number, but the street number. I am telling you the way addresses are displayed here is different.


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## Hermione Golightly

Yes, the way the address is displayed can be different. In Europe the house number often comes after the street name. Your address should be written in exactly the same way as it is written in your country.


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## Roxxxannne

According to Google Street View, Strada Vasile Lupu 56 in Ploieşti is a couple of houses away from Strada Vasile Lupu 50 in Ploieşti.  The two houses are on the same street in the same city.
In American English, _56 _and _50_ in those addresses are house numbers. They're the numbers assigned to individual houses on that street.


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## R@resh

Roxxxannne said:


> According to Google Street View, Strada Vasile Lupu 56 in Ploieşti is a couple of houses away from Strada Vasile Lupu 50 in Ploieşti.  The two houses are on the same street in the same city.
> In American English, _56 _and _50_ in those addresses are house numbers. They're the numbers assigned to individual houses on that street.



Well maybe that's how google displays them for non natives. 

 I live on Lirei street number 4, Block L1, Apartment number 81. The Block which I live in doesn't have a number. On papers all blocks are in alfabetical order only.


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## natkretep

I'm looking at Constanța in the www.openstreetmap.org



I can see two Strada Lirei, but they are not numbered, but they are unconnected - one in the north, and one parallel to it in the south, and there are other parallel streets that seem to be unnamed. Are you saying that these are numbered locally?


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## R@resh

natkretep said:


> I'm looking at Constanța in the www.openstreetmap.org
> View attachment 77336
> I can see two Strada Lirei, but they are not numbered, but they are unconnected - one in the north, and one parallel to it in the south, and there are other parallel streets that seem to be unnamed. Are you saying that these are numbered locally?



Yes. And this is what everyone refuses to accept. Most streets in Romania are numbered. I even gave my own address, well sort of 😉. 

But some people here believe they know better. I just wanted to know an acceptable way of writting streets and their numbers.


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## JulianStuart

R@resh said:


> Yes. And this is what everyone refuses to accept. Most streets in Romania are numbered. I even gave my own address, well sort of 😉.
> 
> But some people here believe they know better. I just wanted to know an acceptable way of writting streets and their numbers.


It's not a question of "knowing better". The way addresses are written is specific to each country.  To write a Romanian address in the same format as, say, one in the UK, just doesn't make sense - if I wanted to send a letter to you in Romanina, I would use _the format appropriate for Romania_, not for the UK.  It's the concept that is strange, not people's reactions to it!


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## JulianStuart

An interesting discussion from a foreigner living in Romania for a while, trying to decode address information.  It seems to be a bit more complicated than we thought 


> Here’s where the fun and the series of incomprehensible numbers come. Source


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## R@resh

JulianStuart said:


> An interesting discussion from a foreigner living in Romania for a while, trying to decode address information.  It seems to be a bit more complicated than we thought



Yes. All that information  -including the street number- is vital.


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## Roxxxannne

In the essay on addresses that JulianStuart posted just now, the person writing says
*"Line 1:*
If you are sending mail you would start with the person you’re sending it to. It’s not required as far as I can tell but on most of the mail I get the names are in all capital letters.

*Line 2:*
On the next line, put the street, with the type of street, then the name (Str. Iugoslaviei—Street/Strada Iugoslaviei—not Iugoslaviei Str.). Then comes the house/building number (not the other way around, as you do in the U.S.) and…

Here’s where the fun and the series of incomprehensible numbers come.
If you are sending something to a stand-alone house, you’re done."

This is what I was talking about earlier (#28): Type of street, name of street, house/building number for a free-standing house.
Is that wrong for a free-standing house, @R@resh?


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## R@resh

Roxxxannne said:


> In the essay on addresses that JulianStuart posted just now, the person writing says
> *"Line 1:*
> If you are sending mail you would start with the person you’re sending it to. It’s not required as far as I can tell but on most of the mail I get the names are in all capital letters.
> 
> *Line 2:*
> On the next line, put the street, with the type of street, then the name (Str. Iugoslaviei—Street/Strada Iugoslaviei—not Iugoslaviei Str.). Then comes the house/building number (not the other way around, as you do in the U.S.) and…
> 
> Here’s where the fun and the series of incomprehensible numbers come.
> If you are sending something to a stand-alone house, you’re done."
> 
> This is what I was talking about earlier (#28): Type of street, name of street, house/building number for a free-standing house.
> Is that wrong for a free-standing house, @R@resh?



What you said is correct. Every house has a number associated with it. It's just that most streets here have a number associated with them and you can't find all of these numbers on google maps.


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## JulianStuart

R@resh said:


> What you said is correct. Every house has a number associated with it. It's just that most streets here have a number associated with it and you can't find all of these numbers on google maps.





JulianStuart said:


> If such a situation really existed, the locals would have come up with a solution


In Japan, there frequently is not even a street number or name!  But the post office there has a solution:  two defined formats - one for using Japanese characters and another for using Romaji/Roman characters for letters from people who don't read/write Japanese.  

If you want someone from outside Romania to send you a letter I would strongly recommend sending them the information in the format exactly as you would write it yourself - don't try to "Anglicize" it - you will confuse the Romanian postal system and person who will actually try to deliver the letter.


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## kentix

In the US, it's much simpler. Street name, house number. That's it. Every street name is different and unique.

1165 Oak Drive
1165 Oak Terrace

(Two different streets, two different houses, no number except the house number)

This is a third house:

1169 Oak Drive

We don't need anything more complicated. So asking how we do something that we don't do is doing to be a dead end. Every house only has those two things. If you live in an apartment there will be one more thing - the apartment number.

So an apartment address might be:

1250 Maple St. Apt 12


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## R@resh

JulianStuart said:


> In Japan, there frequently is not even a street number or name!  But the post office there has a solution:  two defined formats - one for using Japanese characters and another for using Romaji/Roman characters for letters from people who don't read/write Japanese.
> 
> If you want someone from outside Romania to send you a letter I would strongly recommend sending them the information in the format exactly as you would write it yourself - don't try to "Anglicize" it - you will confuse the Romanian postal system and person who will actually try to deliver the letter.



That's actually really cool to know. I always admired the japanese way of handling things.


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## R@resh

kentix said:


> In the US, it's much simpler. Street name, house number. That's it. Every street name is different and unique.
> 
> 1165 Oak Drive
> 1165 Oak Terrace
> 
> (Two different streets, two different houses, no number except the house number)
> 
> This is a third house:
> 
> 1169 Oak Drive
> 
> We don't need anything more complicated. So asking how we do something that we don't do is doing to be a dead end. Every house only has those two things. If you live in an apartment there will be one more thing - the apartment number.
> 
> So an apartment address might be:
> 
> 1250 Maple St. Apt 12



I remember scrolling on google maps and finding out a street in America called "This street", and right next to it "That street" and "Another street".   So I guess you're right about americans not needing complicated things.


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## Roxxxannne

R@resh said:


> I remember scrolling on google maps and finding out a street in America called "This street", and right next to it "That street" and "Another street".   So I guess you're right about americans not needing complicated things.


Those streets are actually in Porters Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada.


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## R@resh

Roxxxannne said:


> Those streets are actually in Porters Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada.



It's still America, North America. 🙃


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## Delvo

There is one other little complication with American street names on the subject of duplication. We often have a particular street running through the middle of a city which acts like a mirror for addresses. The numbering system treats that street as #0, so the numbers increase with distance away from there in opposite directions. Other streets on opposite sides of the mirror street can have the same name, except that they have a North, South, East, or West added. It's usually (but not always) actually the same street, but, when it crosses the mirror street, its name changes from North Rockefeller Avenue to South Rockefeller Avenue, for example. These often get abbreviated with just N, S, E, or W. And there can be two mirror streets in the same city, one north-south and one east-west. Near my home, there's also a single pair of streets along both banks of a creek, named North Ellicott Creek Road and South Ellicott Creek Road.


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