No more nameless streets in France from 1 June

1.8 million residents in the country will therefore get a new address

“Where the streets have no name”, sings Bono in that famous U2 song. Well, it turns out he must have been singing about France. Changing a street name in Paris may not be an easy task, but now suddenly some 200,000 streets and roads in the country stand to gain a new name by the end of this month. That is because they never had one until now.

However, a law adopted in 2022 obliges municipalities to place a name on every street on their territory in order to facilitate the provision of all public services, such as postal deliveries or medical emergencies.

The law stipulates that all municipalities with over 2,000 inhabitants had until 1 January 2024 to implement the changes, whereas those with fewer than 2,000 residents have to comply by 1 June.

This means that some 1.8 million French residents were living on a nameless street and used some other vague signifiers for their addresses. This, however, has created numerous problems throughout the years as it meant that postmen or first-air workers often got confused and lost when doing their jobs. In the case of medical emergencies, this could be the difference between life and death.

Guidelines for the naming task

Ultimately, it’s the municipalities’ responsibility to come up with names for the streets and roads, however, the national government does offer some guidelines to that end.

“Place names are as varied as the landscapes. They reflect history and uses. Municipalities are encouraged to preserve this wealth, to specify the localities, but also to provide regional languages ​​in addition to French,” is the advice dispensed by the dedicated government website.

In the case of private roads open to traffic, the law requires the purchase and installation of the number plate at the expense of the owner.