To help you shine in society with a few anecdotes, we’ve combed through the nomenclature of the capital’s streets. Our aim? Find the Paris street with the shortest name. And after some meticulous research, we finally found the winner! So, will you be able to find this little street without consulting the end of the article? Here’s a hint: you’ll have to venture to the east of Paris to find it…
In Paris, the street with the shortest name is…
The longest street, the narrowest street, the steepest street: Parisian roadway records are a dime a dozen. At the same time, there are over 6,000 streets, avenues, boulevards and other passageways in the City of Light. But which of these streets has the shortest name?
If we exclude all the communal lanes and passages with eccentric names (like P/19 or Fx 13), a dozen names were among the favorites to be designated “the street with the shortest name in Paris”. Rue d’Aix, rue Duc, rue du Bac, avenue du Coq, quai du Lot, impasse du Gué, square Got, rue de l’Est, boulevard Ney, rue du Nil, rue du Pré, rue d’Ulm and the square du Var: all of them could have claimed this title, until we came across… rue de la Py!
Nestled in the 20th arrondissement, near Place Édith Piaf, the two-letter rue de la Py is the street with the shortest name in Paris. A peaceful thoroughfare, it’s simply named after a locality. Conversely, to find the name of the longest street, you’ll have to go to the 16th arrondissement, where the Square des Écrivains Combattants Morts pour la France winds its way.
Also read: What’s the longest street in Paris?