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Each state has its own unique shortened name codes called state abbreviations used in written documents and mailing addresses. The state abbreviations are always in the same format: two letter abbreviations where both letters are uppercase and no periods or spaces between each letter.
19 states take the first two letters. 11 states take the first and last letters. 10 states (AK, AZ, KS, MN, MS, MO, MT, NV, TN, TX) take the first and last letters of the previous postal abbreviation that was in place before the two-letter system was introduced.
May 7, 2021 · However, since most mail addressing equipment allowed only 23 characters, the state names needed to be shortened to make room for the ZIP Code. Although an initial list of abbreviations for the state names was provided in June 1963, some abbreviations had more than two letters which were still long.
- John Misachi
In 1831 the USPS developed its first list of state abbreviations, each consisting of two letters except Ohio’s, which was simply “O.” In 1874 the list was updated to include new states, and longer abbreviations were introduced, largely to avoid confusion.
- When to Spell Out State Names
- When to Use State Abbreviations
- Why The Zip Code Abbreviations Were Developed
- U.S. Or Us For United States
As a general rule, the names of states should be spelled out when they appear in sentencesbut abbreviated in other contexts. For example: 1. "Our family had been transferred from Endicott, New York, to Raleigh, North Carolina. That was the word used by the people at IBM, transferred." (David Sedaris, "Naked," 1997) 2. "Both men were raised in the M...
In bibliographies, lists, charts where space is at a premium, reference lists, footnotes and endnotes, and in mailing addresses, state names are usually shortened using the postal abbreviation. This applies to Chicago Manual of Style and the American psychological Association Style (APA). The two-letter, no-period state abbreviations recommended by...
Before 1963, there were no ZIP codes used on postal mail in the United States, and the U.S. Post Office preferred that people wrote out state and territory names completely to avoid confusion in sorting mail. In the early 1800s, it had established a standardized list of acceptable abbreviations, updating it in 1874. The list remained relatively unc...
Finally, United States may be abbreviated to U.S. when used as an adjective, but in formal writing, it's customarily spelled out as a noun. If you are following the Chicago Manual, you'll remove the periods to become USexcept in bibliography or reference entries pertaining to U.S. statutes, court cases, and other legal-context usages, which retain ...
Each state has its own unique shortened name codes called state abbreviations used in written documents and mailing addresses. State abbreviations are in the same format: two letter abbreviations, both letters in uppercase with no periods or spaces between each letter.
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Aug 4, 2015 · Two-letter postal abbreviations for state names went into effect on July 1, 1963. The two-letter abbreviations were adopted by the U.S. Postal Service to make room on letters for the new five-digit zip code that was developed at the same time.
