Geocoder parses candidates differently than defined in address locator

Question

I'm curious about how the geocoding engine reads in the raw address that is to be geocoded versus the candidate addresses from the street reference database.

In my street reference database, "Route 66" exists in the field ST_NAME.  When the geocoder displays the candidate addresses, it parses "Route" into the PRE_TYPE field and "66" in the ST_NAME field.

If my reference database already has the elements parsed into the appropriate fields, and those fields are defined in the address locator, why does the geocoder parse them differently when evaluating candidates?

NAOMIPAUL · Answer

I am finding the same issue with streets with the word south or old in the beginning. South Point Rd, South is always put in a PreFix, although it is part of the name. It only happens with South and not North, West or East. Old is placed in a PreType, even though our data does not contain a PreType field.

Any ideas on how to get this to stop happening?