How did they come up with abbreviations for states?

History. In 1831 and 1874, the United States Postal Service published a preferred list of state abbreviations. However, before 1963, the Post Office Department favored people writing out the state and territorial names in full to avoid confusion. At this time, many state abbreviations were made up of four letters.

How are state initials decided?

No two states may have the same abbreviation. Take the first two letters of the state name to form the abbreviation. Take the first and last letter of the state name to form the abbreviation.

How are US state names abbreviated?

US State Abbreviations List

State Name	USPS Abbreviation	Traditional Abbreviation
Alabama	AL	Ala.
Alaska	AK	Alaska
Arizona	AZ	Ariz.
Arkansas	AR	Ark.

What were the old state abbreviations?

Old-Style U. S. State Abbreviations

Alabama	Ala.
California	Cal., Calif.
Colorado	Col., Colo.
Connecticut	Conn.
Delaware	Del.

Do state abbreviations have periods?

We do not use periods with state abbreviations: CT, NY, NJ. The U.S. postal service, incidentally, does not insert a comma between the city and the abbreviated state name: Hartford CT, Portland OR — at least not in the addresses on envelopes.

What does AK stand for in states?

ALASKA
Two-Letter State Abbreviations

ALABAMA	AL
ALASKA	AK
AMERICAN SAMOA	AS
ARIZONA	AZ
ARKANSAS	AR

When did states get 2 letter abbreviations?

October 1963
To make room for the ZIP Code, state names needed to be abbreviated. The Department provided an initial list of abbreviations in June 1963, but many had three or four letters, which was still too long. In October 1963, the Department settled on the current two-letter abbreviations.

What is MN abbreviation state?

The Minnesota state abbreviation is not the easiest to remember as it consists of the first and third letters of the name, as follows: “MN”. Other states with similar spelling, letters, and abbreviations are the Michigan state abbreviation, the Mississippi state abbreviation, and the Missouri state abbreviation.

When did state abbreviations change to 2 letters?

To make room for the ZIP Code, state names needed to be abbreviated. The Department provided an initial list of abbreviations in June 1963, but many had three or four letters, which was still too long. In October 1963, the Department settled on the current two-letter abbreviations.

Is the second letter in state abbreviations capitalized?

In headlines, the periods are omitted. However, when giving an address, or in tables or other uses in which space is limited, use the US Postal Service’s symbol system, which consists of a two-letter abbreviation in which both letters are always capitalized and no periods are used (for example, NY for “New York”).

What is the 2 letter abbreviation for Washington DC?

MT
TWO-LETTER STATE AND TERRITORY ABBREVIATIONS

STATE(TERRITORY)	STATE(TERRITORY)
Colorado	CO	MN
Connecticut	CT	MS
Delaware	DE	MO
District of Columbia	DC	MT