Street Naming Process
New streets will be named during the subdivision process. The developer shall propose the naming of all streets within a new subdivision at the time of filing the preliminary engineering plans. The City of Jacksonville Public Works Department will review proposed street names for conformance with the street naming policy. If the street name is identified as appropriate it will be reserved for use within the subdivision for which it was requested.
Once the street names have been reserved, the developer will need to provide a site plan that shows the geometry of the streets with the approved street names labeled on the plan in order to receive final approval on the street name. If the development project is a phased project, the developer will need to provide a site plan for the current phase as well as an overall site plan of the entire subdivision that shows what the ultimate street configuration will be.
Street Name Selection Criteria
- A street name should be appropriate and easy to read (so that children can use the name in an emergency situation)
- Names tending to be confused as homonyms, having the same or similar pronunciation but with a different spelling are prohibited (e.g., Smith, Smyth or Smythe; Ellis or Allice; Allen or Alan)
- Names that may be offensive (slang, double meanings, etc.) are prohibited.
- Use of frivolous or complicated words, or unconventional spellings in road names such as Pointe, Greene, or Olde are prohibited.
- Sound-alike names (e.g. Bay View DR, Bayview DR or Brainard LN, Barnard LN) are prohibited.
- Special characters in road names such as hyphens, apostrophes, dashes or periods are prohibited.
- Abbreviations in a street name are prohibited.
- Street names shall not exceed a total of 30 letters and /or spaces. This will include street type and direction.
- Street names shall not begin with written numbers (e.g. Five Points Rd).
- The use of standard suffixes or directional suffixes or prefixes as the road/street names (e.g. North Blvd, Court St) are prohibited.
- Avoid family names or individuals names. Individual names may be used if the individual has achieved prominence as a result of his or her significant contribution to the United States of America and or the local community. The individual whose name is used must have been deceased for a period of no less than 5 years.
- Any street name that matches an existing or proposed subdivision name must be located within the subdivision in which it shares the name.
- The City of Jacksonville recognizes the following street types:
- Avenue
- Boulevard
- Circle
- Court
- Drive
- Expressway
- Highway
- Lane
- Place
- Parkway
- Road
- Street
- Terrace
- Trail
- Way
- There are no general conventions for assigning street types, except for the following: “Circle” will normally connect back to its street of origin and “Court” is a short street that begins at an intersection and ends in a cul-de-sac.
Updated 9/24/2026