Business letters: Inside address

On this page

• Information included in the inside address
• Titles before or after the receiver’s name
  • Courtesy titles
  • Formal titles
• Mail addressed in care of another person
• Inside address in a letter to two or more receivers
  • Receivers residing at the same address
  • Receivers working in the same organization
• Inside address in a letter to an organization
• Additional information

Information included in the inside address

The inside address, the second standard part of a business letter, includes the name and mailing address of the person you’re writing to. It’s placed flush with the left margin and begins on the fourth, fifth or sixth line below the date, although it may begin on the second line below the date if the letter is very long. (See Business letters: Model letter in recommended format.)

The elements of the address are arranged in the following order:

• the receiver’s first name (or initials) and last name, preceded by the receiver’s formal title or courtesy title (if you know it)
• the receiver’s job title, if applicable
• the name of the receiver’s department or division, if applicable
• the name of the organization (business, non-profit organization, government department, etc.), if applicable
• the mailing address

The inside address is single-spaced and should be no longer than six lines, to correspond to the mailing address on the envelope (which has a maximum length of six lines, according to Canada Post addressing guidelines). No punctuation is used at the end of a line unless the line ends with an abbreviation.

If you don’t know the gender of the receiver, use the name without a gender-specific courtesy title:

If you don’t have the name of a receiver, you may address your letter to a job title:

For detailed information on how to format an address in a letter, see the article Addresses: Addresses in letters or other documents.

Titles before or after the receiver’s name

A courtesy title or a formal title may be used before (or sometimes after) the receiver’s name in the inside address.

Courtesy titles

The most common courtesy titles in English are Mr. and Ms., used before the name of a man or a woman, respectively. (For detailed information on the use of these titles, see the article Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms.)

Note: In a letter addressed to a non-binary person, you should either use the person’s preferred title (if you know it) or omit the courtesy title altogether. For more information, see the section Courtesy titles and nouns in the article Guidelines for writing to or about non-binary individuals.

However, in a letter to a member of the medical profession (a physician, dentist or optometrist, for example), the title Dr. is used instead before the receiver’s name:

Alternatively, in the case of physicians, the title Dr. can be omitted before the name in the inside address, and the abbreviation MD or M.D. (doctor of medicine), preceded by a comma, can be placed after the name:

Another common courtesy title is Esq. (Esquire), which may be placed after the full name of lawyers in Canada and the United States. If the title Esq. is used after the name, no other courtesy title is placed before the name.

Formal titles

Formal titles are used in the inside address before the names of various dignitaries:

For more information on these titles, see the article Honourable, Right Honourable and the Canadian Heritage web page Styles of address.

In addition, Indigenous leaders and members of the Royal Family, the armed forces and the clergy, as well as many other dignitaries, have a formal title that is used in the inside address of a letter:

Mail addressed in care of another person

The in care of (c/o) notation may be used when the receiver doesn’t reside at the address indicated, or does reside there but has a different last name from the main occupant(s) of the address (as in the case of a boarder).

To use this notation, add a second line beginning with c/o below the name of the receiver, giving the name of the person or organization that will take responsibility for passing on the receiver’s mail:

Inside address in a letter to two or more receivers

When a letter is addressed to more than one receiver, the inside address may take different forms, depending on the context.

Receivers residing at the same address

In a letter addressed to more than one person residing at the same address, place the names together on the first line:

Receivers working in the same organization

If a letter is addressed to more than one receiver in the same organization, write their names on consecutive lines, in order of rank.

If the job titles are short, put the relevant job title on the same line as each receiver’s name, separated from the name by a comma (but omit long job titles).

Inside address in a letter to an organization

Sometimes you may need to address your letter to an organization rather than an individual. If so, begin the inside address with the name of the organization, and put the relevant department on the line below the company name:

Additional information

• Correspondence and Addresses – Guidelines and resources
• Business letters: Model letter in recommended format
• Addresses: Addresses in letters or other documents
• Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms.
• Gender-inclusive writing: Guidelines for writing to or about non-binary individuals
• Honourable, Right Honourable
• Gender-inclusive writing: Letters and emails

Other resources

• Addressing guidelines (Canada Post)
• Styles of address (Canadian Heritage)