Local short name form

Official name

Area

Population

Capital

Currency

International telephone access code

ISO 3166 country codes

Car nationality plate code

Internet country code

GRC Country Code

   1,234.45

(where . indicates the decimal separator and , the thousands separator)

   Note: This section last updated 26th May 2021

   dd/mm/yyyy 

   14:32  

The official language is Spanish , spoken by most of the population. There are also 1 500 speakers of Garífuna ; 154 400 of Mískito (around Puerto Cabezas and along the northern Caribbean coast); 24 speakers of Rama ; 6 700 speakers of Sumo and 30 000 speakers of Western Caribbean Creole English (around Bluefields and along the southern Caribbean coast).

The abbreviation used for Señorita in Nicaragua is Srta.

Each person usually has a given name followed by two family names, that of the father followed by that of the mother, for example:

   Barbara Betancourt Perez

Upon marriage, females may take their husband’s name as a further given name, in this way:

   Barbara Betancourt Perez de Lopez

where the de indicates “(wife) of”. De usually indicates a married female, but may also be part of a name.

Professional people are often referred to by their qualification, followed by the given name and paternal family name (and sometimes the maternal family name):

   Doctor (m) / Doctora (f) (Dr/Dra)         Doctor
   Ingeniero (m) / Ingeniera (f) (Ing.)      Engineer
   Licenciado (m) / Licenciada (f) (Lic.)    Holder of a university degree
   Profesor (Prof.)                          Professor, higher education teachers

This is preceded by the gender form of address in this way:

   Señor Ingeniero Domínguez

   Tables of names can be acquired: given names , surnames/family names , family name prefixes , forms of address , job titles 

   Note: This section last updated 5th January 2021

Nicaraguan addresses follow the format:

   Person’s name
   Thoroughfare name[ ]building number
   {District name}
   Postal code
   PLACE NAME{[, ]DEPARTMENT}

for example:

Streets in urban areas are often named based on their position relative to a central point. In Managua, for example, streets are numbered ascending from the Chancellery, near to where calle Central crosses avenida Bolívar. Thoroughfares running approximately east to west are named calle or callejon. Those running approximately north to south are named avenida or pasaje. Diagonal thoroughfares are named diagonal or radial. Thus:

   14.a calle Sureste 

is the fourteenth numbered thoroughfare south of the calle Central, and is east of avenida Bolívar. In León, the central point from which thoroughfares are named is the Cathedral.

Though most streets are named, an informal system is often used, even in official data, based on directions from a reference point. References may be made to blocks (cuadras, c.), compass directions and distances. Arriba (up) may be used instead of east and abajo (down) instead of west. For example:

   Lacmiel, 2 cuadras arriba, ½ cuadra al sur 

(meaning 2 blocks east and ½ a block south of the company Lacmiel). Sometimes references are made to points that no longer exist:

   Donde fue Lacmiel, 2 cuadras arriba, ½ cuadra al sur 

(meaning 2 blocks east and ½ a block south of where the company Lacmiel used to be). Old measurements, such as the vara (vra, vs, equal to 84 cm) are used to show distance along a road:

   boulevard El Dorado, Nacatamales el Dorado 1c. al sur, 10 vrs arriba  

   repto San Juan Igl Santa Martha 75vrs al E 

Clearly, this system is impossible to understand for non-natives.

Outside urban areas addresses often show a distance along a road:

   km 19 carretera a Ticuantepe 

Some more information about this system can be found here: https://vianica.com/nicaragua/practical-info/14-addresses.html

   A table containing information about the relevant position of elements within address blocks can be acquired 

This is written Apartado Postal in Nicaragua.

   Note: This section last updated 9th February 2015

After some experimentation with postal codes (Código Postal) of varying formats and lengths, Nicaragua seems (in 2013) to have settled upon a postal code in the format 99999.

Codes are assigned to 153 municipalities across the country, and to 776 districts of the municipality of Managua.

Postal codes of four digits and of seven digits in the format 999[-]999[-]9 may still be found, though codes are no yet commonly found in Nicaraguan addresses.

   Metadata containing postal code formatting rules, exceptions and regular expressions can be acquired  

Nicaragua - Postal code format graphic

Nicaragua - Postal code format

Nicaragua - Postal code specifics

Nicaragua - Postal code regular expression

Nicaragua - Postal code level of coverage

Nicaragua - Postal code map

   Note: This section last updated 9th August 2014

Refer to Exonyms in Nicaragua for full lists of place names in Nicaragua in other languages.

   Alternate place name forms/postal code tables can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/settlements.htm 

   Other language place name data can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/otherlanguageplace.htm 

   Note: This section last updated 19th May 2016

Nicaragua has 15 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento) and 2 autonomous regions (regiones autónomistas, singular - region autónomista, shown in the list below with an asterisk).

Departamento	Postal code
Costa Caribe Norte *	71-72
Costa Caribe Sur *	81-82
Boaco	51-52
Carazo	45-46
Chinandega	25-27
Chontales	55-56
Estelí	31-32
Granada	43-44
Jinotega	65-66
León	21-22
Madriz	34-35
Managua	10-16
Masaya	41-42
Matagalpa	61-62
Nueva Segovia	37-38
Rio San Juan	91-92
Rivas	47-48

They may be found in addresses.

   This regions/postal code data can be acquired as a data file 

Administrative districts graphic

Nicaraguan telephone numbers have no area codes. Subscriber numbers have 8 digits. Mobile numbers begin with an 8.

   Tables of telephone number information/formats can be acquired – see http://www.grcdi.nl/telephone.htm