Page 28 - index

ABBREVIATIONS - INTERNATIONAL
AliS Aii*lrnl#a FLI tieshlcnsrein P"l;i"d
RF1 klcium FRA Fr;inci Piiriu~;il
RRD Weil <i~rmiin\l FRCI lrïe RRD) R<imsni;i
rllundeircpuhlii <;DR ire? DDRI Rcp. Soiilh Alrica
Dciilrrhlniiill GFR Old Ciçrrn:iii Liiipirc SciilI&lnd
CAV C;~,~;td;s GR (irecce S<iii"l Iiniiin
CH Svitrcrland Hli Hiine~iiy swrdrii
rs C7rchorli>vaki;i IOM lrle nl Man tnite<l Kiiigdiiin
DDK Fail [iermany IR1 lrcI8lnd [\cc FNC. SCT
(D?u!rchî Drmokr III. IIBI~ IR1 & WI $1
Rrpiihlik) 1 t:x luxcnihii"ry rniier1 s,*,e<. i>I
r>enmari YI. Vcfhçrlund~ 4mcrir.i
EV<i Eneland NOR Norray Wnlcr
ESP Spain N7 Ncw 2e;il;ind Yugorkiri;,
FIN Finland OES Austrk~
THE CtiAPMAS COC'KTY CODES
Cde CHAPMAN Je, r.omtér Ju Royaume Un. et Je la République J'lrlandc
When the English Plaee Name Society was established in 1923 a series olabbreviations was
pradueed for the English counties in existence ai that lime. Many of these consisted of only
one lciter.same oltwo anda lew oithree letters. In 1973 the Society ofGenealogistsextended
rhis system to fover the other counties in the British lslesand published a listofabbreviations
in ihe Genealogists Magazine, Vol 17 No 6. The Port Olfice and other aurhorities over the
years have bccn using other sfandards olabbreviate county names; with thecreation of new
couniies and the amalgamationolothers in 1974theaccepted. ifnolaceeptable,eontractions
multiplied. The Federation of Family Hisiary Saeieties being iounded in 1974 no1 only
brought together many individualsandgraupsall havingcauseto frequently mentioneounty
names within the Britishlrlcs. butalsoereatedinterestamongmany thousandsolothers,eaeh
requiring 10 abbreviate a county namc, and each appearing Io choose a diiferent system.
The adveni of cornpucers and Ihe dcsirability lor standardisation, to enable cdina al
computer programmes 10 be cffceted with thc lcint eonfusian. led those ofusworkingon lhrse
projeets todevisea Three LettcrCoded System foreaeholthecountieswithin the British Isler.
-
Wherever Dossible thesvstems ~ro~orcd and used bv the Enelish Place Name Socieivandthe
. .
Society of Genealogists have been retained within the present systcm: whcre necersary. thase
systems have had theabbreviationsextended tothree letters insuchawaythat ahentheseare
truncated, the lormer system is aitained. This has no1 always produeed the mort logieal
abbreviation il those three letters were already allocated by a previous sysiem to another
eounty, and in Iwo cases the Utopian idea was impossible. For example. Co. thc 1923
abbreviation for Cornwall wauld logically be extended 10 Cor, but as this had becn allocated
in 1973 Io Cork. thecode of Con was chosen;Sx,now being Ssxlor Sussex.and 10W in place
of Wt lor the Isle 01 Wight (la bring il in10 line with the Isle of Man), are exccplions to the
gencral ruler used Io derive the present cded sysiem for the counties within thc British Isler.
As the posl-1974 counlies have also been included Tor complercness, and loobviatedivergent
applieaiionr in dccades ta ccime. atheranticipated abbreviations could nolbe introduad; Tor
example Cu>nberland, originally Cu. had to become Cul 10 prevent conlusion with Cumbria
which is abbreviated to Cma.
As I war rcsponriblc forintroducingthe present County Codes io somecomputerised work on
records, ihc systcm was a! firsi drolly relerred ioas ihe Chapman Caunty Codes although,as
stated above, I merely derived or adapted the abbreviationa fram those long establiahed by
others. However, this alliterative litle has adhered tothe Syrtemand 1 aller il here to be used
freely by all, in the hope that less conlusion combined with a greater acceleration olthe
recording and retrieving ol geographical and historiçal data may be achieved.
By courtesy of Colin R. Chapmn
NEW ADDRESS:
The Drovcrs
6 Holywell Rd, Dursley, GLS.
GLll SRS ENGLAND