State and Territory Abbreviations (2024)

FAQs

Is there a rule for state abbreviations? ›

The names of eight states are never abbreviated in datelines or text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah. Memory aid: States with five or fewer letters, plus Alaska and Hawaii, are never abbreviated.

Most often, either the first two letters get used, or else the first and last letters are used. In some cases, either algorithm would give the same result (California, Colorado, Delaware). Other times, one answer simply seems more intuitive than the other (Ohio as OH instead of OO, Idaho as ID instead of IO, e.g.).

In October 1963, the Department settled on the current two-letter abbreviations. Since that time, only one change has been made: in 1969, at the request of the Canadian postal administration, the abbreviation for Nebraska, originally NB, was changed to NE, to avoid confusion with New Brunswick in Canada.

Because ZIP codes were adopted that year, and, owing to the limitations of addressing equipment, abbreviations had to be shortened to make room for the numbers. While the two-letter abbreviations are now preferred, the earlier versions continue to be widely used.

Do not abbreviate Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, or Utah. Use the ZIP code abbreviation for mailing addresses.

The 50 states in the United States are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New ...

Minnesota: Minnesota has the double letter "n" occurring twice. The state name consists of two "n" letters. 4. Illinois: Illinois has the double letter "l" appearing twice.

When the name of a city and state are used together, the name of the state should be abbreviated (except for Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Utah). States should also be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation.

Why is the abbreviation for Florida FLA instead of FLO? The official postal abbreviation for Florida is FL, and it's been that way since October 1963. It was only FLA for a few months in 1963; it was Fla. from at least 1874 to 1963.

In 1831 and 1874, the United States Postal Service (USPS) 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.

What is MO short for? ›

The acronym MO is short for modus operandi, an expression directly from Latin meaning “way of operating.” Modus operandi was first recorded in English by the 1650s. The phrase specifically refers to the particular, often characteristic manner someone goes about doing something—later broadened to one's “style.”

The answer is "Q".

And that's not the only vowel-related bit of trivia that makes Iowa unique. It's also the only state whose two-letter abbreviation consists of two vowels.

The state was officially named the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations since the colonial era but came to be commonly known as "Rhode Island". In November 2020, the state's voters approved an amendment to the state constitution formally dropping "and Providence Plantations" from its full name.

In addresses and on maps and signs, Pl. is often used as a written abbreviation for Place. ... 1060 Colorado Pl., Palo Alto. 2. In grammar, pl. is often used as a written abbreviation for plural.

Origin of the abbreviation for the state of Missouri as "Mo." First abbreviation for Missouri Territory in 1813 as "M. T.," followed by "Mo." starting in 1822 and becoming common between 1827 and 1835, to differentiate the state from Mississippi and Michigan.

Thus, the abbreviations U.S. and US are both in common use as nouns or adjectives, while U.S.A. and USA are both used as nouns.

States of the U.S.

There are fifty (50) states and Washington D.C.The last two states to join the Union were Alaska (49th) and Hawaii (50th). Both joined in 1959. Washington D.C. is a federal district under the authority of Congress.

Got your guess? Well, my trivia-savvy friends, the answer is…Q. That's right—50 different names, and not one of them contains the letter Q. Every other letter of our alphabet shows up at least once (well, unless you count these letters that dropped out of our alphabet.)