diff --git a/resources/boundaries/names/languages/es.yaml b/resources/boundaries/names/languages/es.yaml
index 3fa3e211..c12488f5 100644
--- a/resources/boundaries/names/languages/es.yaml
+++ b/resources/boundaries/names/languages/es.yaml
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@ prefixes:
     # Note: "ciudad de" should not be included as it's part of proper names
     - colonia
     - municipio nuestra senora de
-    - ciudad de
 
+prefixes_similarity_only:
+    - ciudad de
 
 suffixes:
     - colonia
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/geodata/names/normalization.py b/scripts/geodata/names/normalization.py
index c9bd8d97..ee397dff 100644
--- a/scripts/geodata/names/normalization.py
+++ b/scripts/geodata/names/normalization.py
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ class NameAffixes(object):
         self.language_prefix_regexes = {}
         self.language_suffix_regexes = {}
 
+        self.language_prefix_sim_only_regexes = {}
+        self.language_suffix_sim_only_regexes = {}
+
         for filename in os.listdir(config_dir):
             if not filename.endswith('.yaml'):
                 continue
@@ -43,25 +46,46 @@ class NameAffixes(object):
             all_prefixes = [six.u('{}{}').format(s, whitespace_phrase) for s in prefixes] + prefixes_no_whitespace
             all_suffixes = [six.u('{}{}').format(whitespace_phrase, s) for s in suffixes] + suffixes_no_whitespace
 
-            prefix_regex = six.u('^(?:{})').format(six.u('|').join(all_prefixes))
-            suffix_regex = six.u('(?:{})$').format(six.u('|').join(all_suffixes))
+            if all_prefixes:
+                prefix_regex = six.u('^(?:{})').format(six.u('|').join(all_prefixes))
+                self.language_prefix_regexes[lang] = re.compile(prefix_regex, re.I | re.UNICODE)
 
-            self.language_prefix_regexes[lang] = re.compile(prefix_regex, re.I | re.UNICODE)
-            self.language_suffix_regexes[lang] = re.compile(suffix_regex, re.I | re.UNICODE)
+            if all_suffixes:
+                suffix_regex = six.u('(?:{})$').format(six.u('|').join(all_suffixes))
+                self.language_suffix_regexes[lang] = re.compile(suffix_regex, re.I | re.UNICODE)
 
-    def replace_prefixes(self, name, lang):
+            sim_only_prefixes = [six.u('{}{}').format(safe_decode(phrase.lower()), whitespace_phrase) for phrase in conf.get('prefixes_similarity_only', [])]
+            if sim_only_prefixes:
+                sim_only_prefix_regex = six.u('^(?:{})').format(six.u('|').join(sim_only_prefixes + all_prefixes))
+                self.language_prefix_sim_only_regexes[lang] = re.compile(sim_only_prefix_regex, re.I | re.UNICODE)
+
+            sim_only_suffixes = [six.u('(?:{})$').format(whitespace_phrase, safe_decode(phrase.lower())) for phrase in conf.get('suffixes_similarity_only', [])]
+            if sim_only_suffixes:
+                sim_only_suffix_regex = six.u('(?:{})$').format(six.u('|').join(sim_only_suffixes + all_suffixes))
+
+                self.language_suffix_sim_only_regexes[lang] = re.compile(sim_only_suffix_regex, re.I | re.UNICODE)
+
+    def replace_prefixes(self, name, lang, sim_only=False):
         name = safe_decode(name).strip()
 
-        re = self.language_prefix_regexes.get(lang)
+        if not sim_only or lang not in self.language_prefix_sim_only_regexes:
+            re = self.language_prefix_regexes.get(lang)
+        else:
+            re = self.language_prefix_sim_only_regexes.get(lang)
+
         if not re:
             return name
 
         return re.sub(six.u(''), name)
 
-    def replace_suffixes(self, name, lang):
+    def replace_suffixes(self, name, lang, sim_only=False):
         name = safe_decode(name).strip()
 
-        re = self.language_suffix_regexes.get(lang)
+        if not sim_only or lang not in self.language_suffix_sim_only_regexes:
+            re = self.language_suffix_regexes.get(lang)
+        else:
+            re = self.language_suffix_sim_only_regexes.get(lang)
+
         if not re:
             return name