Map projections are commonly approached as mapping onto developable surfaces; cylindrical projections onto the lateral surface of a cylinder, conic projections onto the lateral surface of a cone, and azimuthal projections onto a plane. If an intermediate developable surface intersects the Earth’s sphere or ellipsoid, the projection is referred to as a secant projection. The intersection of a developable surface and the Earth’s sphere or ellipsoid, e.g. secant parallel is considered a standard parallel. In this paper the definitions of secant and standard parallel in azimuthal projections are given. The first conclusion is that the secant and standard parallels are two distinct notions. The second one is that a standard parallel, if such a parallel exists in an azimuthal projection, is a secant parallel, while the converse statement is not true in general. Furthermore, it is shown that there are azimuthal projections with only one secant parallel that is not standard, with only one standard parallel which is also secant one, with two different secant parallels, and with one standard and one secant parallel.