Boulevard Abbreviation: Blvd

Boulevard abbreviation: postal style vs writing style

The pattern is the same one used for avenue and street: abbreviate when a house number is attached, spell it out when you are just naming the road. Sorting machines read plain capitals without punctuation most reliably, which is why postal style looks the way it does.

What is the abbreviation for boulevard on an address?

On a mailing address, Blvd goes after the street name and before any unit number. If there is a suite or apartment, it follows on the same line.

Some boulevards have a direction, such as North or West. The direction letter usually comes before the street name: "300 N Lake Blvd." A few cities place it at the end instead, so copy the order the city uses.

Blvd full form and where the word comes from

The Blvd full form is simply boulevard. English took the word from French. In older French it meant the flat top of a city wall or rampart, and it is related to the English word bulwark. When cities like Paris tore down their old walls, the wide paths left behind became tree lined avenues, and the name stuck to any broad, grand street.

Today in the United States, a boulevard is usually a wide road, often with a planted median strip down the middle. That is a naming habit, not a legal rule. A city can call any road a boulevard.

Street suffixes that sit next to Blvd

• Ave avenue
• St street
• Rd road
• Dr drive
• Ln lane
• Ct court
• Pkwy parkway, see the parkway abbreviation
• Hwy highway, see the highway abbreviation
• Cir circle, see the circle abbreviation

Each one is a fixed short form. Do not invent your own, such as Bvd or Blv, because sorting machines and map apps may not recognize them. More short forms for everyday words are gathered in common abbreviations.

Capitals, periods and the plural

• Capital B: when it is part of a street name, capitalize it, as in Sunset Blvd. Leave it lowercase only when you mean boulevards in general, as in "the city's busiest boulevards."
• Period: use one in sentences, skip it on mail. Each is right where it belongs.
• Plural: Blvds. for lists or maps, as in "Ocean and Pacific Blvds." In a sentence, boulevards is clearer.
• Sentence end: a single dot does double duty. "Meet us at 40 Grand Blvd." does not need a second dot.

Mix ups to watch for

Blvd is not the same as Ave, even though both roads may be wide. If you write the wrong suffix, a package can end up on a different street with the same name, since many towns have both a Main Street and a Main Avenue. Always copy the suffix exactly as it appears on the street sign or the official address.

In French speaking parts of Canada, the short form is often boul., placed before the name, as in "boul. Saint Laurent." In American addresses, Blvd always follows the name.