How many words can stand in for “street” in a place name like “Elm Street”? Could it have been a nightmare on Elm Avenue, or Elm Circle, or Elm Road?
This question inspired two Word Ways pieces, an untitled end piece after “Azuriel Crossword No. 1” (#1.4, November 1968, author uncertain) and “More Viae” (#3.3, May 1970, Darryl Francis). The first piece found 30 street designations then current in the U.S., and Darryl’s piece added another 54 from the U.K. “Are there others?” he asked.
Consulting Wikipedia today, we do indeed find others. The street suffix page includes entries from Hong Kong and Australia, but even just the American examples have exploded in the last half-century, with just over 200 designations listed. Other countries have some overlap with the U.S., so the total number of designations from all four sources is 256:
Alley
Annex
Approach
Arcade
Avenida
Avenue
Bayou
Bazaar
Beach
Bend
Bluff
Bluffs
Boardwalk
Bottom
Boulevard
Brae
Branch
Break
Bridge
Brook
Brooks
Brow
Burg
Burgs
Bypass
Calle
Camino
Camp
Canyon
Cape
Causeway
Center
Centers
Chase
Circle
Circles
Circuit
Circus
Cliff
Cliffs
Close
Club
Common
Commons
Concourse
Corner
Corners
Corridor
Course
Court
Courts
Cove
Coves
Creek
Crescent
Crest
Cross
Crossing
Crossroad
Curve
Dale
Dam
Divide
Drive
Drives
Embankment
End
Entrance
Esplanade
Estate
Estates
Expressway
Extension
Extensions
Fall
Falls
Ferry
Field
Fields
Firetrail
Flat
Flats
Flyover
Fong
Ford
Fords
Forest
Forge
Forges
Fork
Forks
Fort
Freeway
Gait
Garden
Gardens
Gate
Gateway
Glade
Glen
Glens
Grange
Green
Greens
Grove
Groves
Harbor
Harbors
Haven
Heights
Highway
Hill
Hills
Hollow
Incline
Inlet
Interchange
Island
Islands
Isle
Junction
Junctions
Key
Keys
Knoll
Knolls
Lake
Lakes
Land
Landing
Lane
Light
Lights
Link
Loaf
Lock
Locks
Lodge
Loop
Mall
Manor
Manors
Mead
Wharf
Meadow
Meadows
Mews
Mill
Mills
Mission
Motorway
Mount
Mountain
Mountains
Neck
Orchard
Oval
Overlook
Overpass
Parade
Park
Parks
Parkway
Parkways
Pass
Passage
Path
Pathway
Pike
Pine
Pines
Place
Plain
Plains
Plaza
Point
Points
Port
Ports
Prairie
Praya
Promenade
Quadrant
Quays
Radial
Ramp
Ranch
Rapid
Rapids
Rest
Retreat
Ride
Ridge
Ridges
Rise
Row
River
Road
Roads
Route
Rue
Run
Shoal
Shoals
Shore
Shores
Side
Skyway
Spring
Springs
Spur
Square
Squares
Station
Steps
Strand
Strasse
Stravenue
Stream
Street
Streets
Subway
Summit
Terrace
Throughway
Toi
Trace
Track
Trafficway
Trail
Trailer
Tunnel
Turnpike
Underpass
Union
Unions
Vale
Valley
Valleys
Via
Viaduct
Viale
View
Views
Village
Villages
Ville
Vista
Wai
Walk
Wall
Way
Well
Wells
Wynd
Yard
Some of the entries listed in the 1968 and 1970 article are not featured in the above list, which may not be comprehensive. If we add those in, we get another 28, for a total of 284:
ACRE
BUILDINGS
BUTTS
COTTAGES
CROFT
DENE
FOOTPATH
GROUND
HATCH
INN
LINE
MANSIONS
MARKET
MARKS
MIDWAY
PARKSIDE
PIKLE
PLAISANCE
PLEASAUNCE
PRIORY
QUAY (singular)
SCARP
TOLLWAY
TREES
VILLAS
WAYE (with E)
WHARF
(The 1970 piece also hyphenates “By-pass,” but that’s likely to have been revised into “Bypass.”)
Also, there’s been an update to the “Alphabetic Word Chains” piece from last week—Darryl himself made a few amendments! Always good to hear from him; it’s easy to miss things when navigating these roads on my own…
T wrote "I couldn’t find the prior piece it cited". The prior piece was in Word Ways (November 1968, volume 1, number 4, page 230). This can be found at the end of the article Azuriel Crossword No 1, to which it bears no relation, and where it was just included as a page filler.
T also wrote that my original article More Viae appeared in Word Ways #3.3, 1970. Minor correction: it was in Word Ways #3.2, 1970.