Chapman Codes

Origin

Chapman codes are a set of 2 or 3-capital-letter codes used in genealogy to (originally) identify the administrative divisions in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

They were created by the historian, Dr. Colin R Chapman, in the late 1970s, and as intended, provide a widely used shorthand in genealogy which follows the common practice of describing areas in terms of the counties and countries existing in the 19th and 20th centuries.
They have no mapping, postal nor administrative use.

Being so useful at unambiguously identifying such places, and considerably shortening reports containing many place-names, they have since been extended to cover geographies beyond the original scope.

Usage

There follows a large table showing a great many Chapman Codes - not all by any means have been used in my own research.
Here they are not listed alphabetically by Code, but rather alphabetically by Country and Region for which a Chapman Code can be used.

Hence to discover the meaning of a particular Chapman Code found, use your Browser's Search facility on the Code on this page, to discover the Region or Country that it defines.

When complete, use your Browser's Back button to return to the page containing the unknown Chapman Code.

Chapman Codes - The World

Country	State / County / Region	Code
Australia		AUS
Australia	Capital Territory	ACT
Australia	New South Wales	NSW
Australia	Northern Territory	NT
Australia	Queensland	QLD
Australia	South Australia	SA
Australia	Tasmania	TAS
Australia	Victoria	VIC
Australia	Western Australia	WA
Austria		OES
Austria	Böhmen [Bohemia]	BOH
Belgium		BEL
Belgium	Antwerpen	ATW
Belgium	Brabant	BBT
Belgium	Hainaut	HNT
Belgium	Liège	LGE
Belgium	Limburg	LBG
Belgium	Luxembourg	LXM
Belgium	Namur	NMR
Belgium	Oost-Vlaanderen	OVL
Belgium	West-Vlaanderen	WVL
Bulgaria		BGR
Canada		CAN
Canada	Alberta	ALB
Canada	British Columbia	BC
Canada	Manitoba	MAN
Canada	New Brunswick	NB
Canada	Newfoundland	NFD
Canada	Nova Scotia	NS
Canada	NW Territories	NWT
Canada	Ontario	ONT
Canada	Prince Edward Island	PEI
Canada	Quebec	QUE
Canada	Saskatchewan	SAS
Canada	Yukon	YUK
Channel Islands		CHI or CHA
Channel Islands	Alderney	ALD
Channel Islands	Guernsey	GSY
Channel Islands	Jersey	JEY
Channel Islands	Sark	SRK
Czechoslavakia		CS
Denmark		DEN
East Prussia		OPRU
England		ENG
England	Bedfordshire	BDF
England	Berkshire	BRK
England	Buckinghamshire	BKM
England	Cambridgeshire	CAM
England	Cheshire	CHS
England	Cornwall	CON
England	Cumberland	CUL
England	Derbyshire	DBY
England	Devon	DEV
England	Dorset	DOR
England	Durham	DUR
England	Essex	ESS
England	Gloucestershire	GLS
England	Hampshire	HAM
England	Herefordshire	HER
England	Hertfordshire	HRT
England	Huntingdonshire	HUN
England	Isle of Wight	IOW
England	Kent	KEN
England	Lancashire	LAN
England	Leicestershire	LEI
England	Lincolnshire	LIN
England	Middlesex	MDX
England	Norfolk	NFK
England	Northamptonshire	NTH
England	Northumberland	NBL
England	Nottinghamshire	NTT
England	Oxfordshire	OXF
England	Rutland	RUT
England	Shropshire [Salop]	SAL
England	Somerset	SOM
England	Staffordshire	STS
England	Suffolk	SFK
England	Surrey	SRY
England	Sussex	SSX
England	Warwickshire	WAR
England	Westmoreland	WES
England	Wiltshire	WIL
England	Worcestershire	WOR
England	Yorkshire	YKS
England	Yorkshire [East Riding]	ERY
England	Yorkshire [North Riding]	NRY
England	Yorkshire [West Riding]	WRY
Finland		FIN
France		FRA
Germany East		DDR
Germany West		BRD
Germany post Wall		DEU
Greece		GR
Hungary		HU
Ireland		IRL
Ireland	Antrim	ANT
Ireland	Armagh	ARM
Ireland	Carlow	CAR
Ireland	Cavan	CAV
Ireland	Clare	CLA
Ireland	Cork	COR
Ireland	Derry	DRY
Ireland	Donegal	DON
Ireland	Down	DOW
Ireland	Dublin	DUB
Ireland	Fermanagh	FER
Ireland	Galway	GAL
Ireland	Kerry	KER
Ireland	Kildare	KID
Ireland	Kilkenny	KIK
Ireland	Leitrim	LET
Ireland	Leix [Queens]	LEX
Ireland	Limerick	LIM
Ireland	Londonderry	LDY
Ireland	Longford	LOG
Ireland	Louth	LOU
Ireland	Mayo	MAY
Ireland	Meath	MEA
Ireland	Monaghan	MOG
Ireland	Offaly [Kings]	OFF
Ireland	Roscommon	ROS
Ireland	Sligo	SLI
Ireland	Tipperary	TIP
Ireland	Tyrone	TYR
Ireland	Waterford	WAT
Ireland	Westmeath	WEM
Ireland	Wexford	WEX
Ireland	Wicklow	WIC
Isle of Man		IOM
Italy		ITL
Netherlands		NL
New Zealand		NZ
Norway		NOR
Poland		POL
Portugal		PRT
Scotland		SCT
Scotland	Aberdeen	ABD
Scotland	Angus	ANS
Scotland	Argyll	ARL
Scotland	Ayr	AYR
Scotland	Banff	BAN
Scotland	Berwick	BEW
Scotland	Bute	BUT
Scotland	Caithness	CAI
Scotland	Clackmannan	CLK
Scotland	Dumbarton	DNB
Scotland	Dumfries	DFS
Scotland	East Lothian	ELN
Scotland	Fife	FIF
Scotland	Inverness	INV
Scotland	Kincardine	KCD
Scotland	Kinross	KRS
Scotland	Kirkcudbright	KKD
Scotland	Lanark	LKS
Scotland	Midlothian	MLN
Scotland	Moray	MOR
Scotland	Nairn	NAI
Scotland	Orkney Isles	OKI
Scotland	Peebles	PEE
Scotland	Perth	PER
Scotland	Renfrew	RFW
Scotland	Ross & Cromarty	ROC
Scotland	Roxburgh	ROX
Scotland	Selkirk	SEL
Scotland	Shetland	SHI
Scotland	Stirling	STI
Scotland	Sutherland	SUT
Scotland	West Lothian	WLN
Scotland	Wigtown	WIG
South Africa		RSA
Spain		ESP
Sweden		SWE
Switzerland		CH
United Kingdom		UK
United States		USA
United States	Alabama	AL
United States	Alaska	AK
United States	Arizona	AZ
United States	Arkansas	AR
United States	California	CA
United States	Colorado	CO
United States	Connecticut	CT
United States	Delaware	DE
United States	District of Columbia	DC
United States	Florida	FL
United States	Georgia	GA
United States	Hawaii	HI
United States	Idaho	ID
United States	Illinois	IL
United States	Indiana	IN
United States	Iowa	IA
United States	Kansas	KS
United States	Kentucky	KY
United States	Louisana	LA
United States	Maine	ME
United States	Maryland	MD
United States	Massachusetts	MA
United States	Michigan	MI
United States	Minnesota	MN
United States	Misouri	MO
United States	Mississippi	MS
United States	Montana	MT
United States	Nebraska	NE
United States	Nevada	NV
United States	New Hampshire	NH
United States	New Jersey	NJ
United States	New Mexico	NM
United States	New York	NY
United States	North Carolina	NC
United States	North Dakota	ND
United States	Ohio	OH
United States	Oklahoma	OK
United States	Oregon	OR
United States	Pennsylvania	PA
United States	Rhode Island	RI
United States	South Carolina	SC
United States	South Dakota	SD
United States	Tennessee	TN
United States	Texas	TX
United States	Utah	UT
United States	Vermont	VT
United States	Virginia	VA
United States	Washington	WA
United States	West Virginia	WV
United States	Wisconsin	WI
United States	Wyoming	WY
USSR		SU
Wales		WLS
Wales	Anglesey	AGY
Wales	Brecknockshire [Breconshire]	BRE
Wales	Caernarvon	CAE
Wales	Cardiganshire	CGN
Wales	Carmarthen	CMN
Wales	Denbighshire	DEN
Wales	Flintshire	FLN
Wales	Glamorgan	GLA
Wales	Merioneth	MER
Wales	Monmouthshire	MON
Wales	Montgomeryshire	MGY
Wales	Pembroke	PEM
Wales	Radnorshire	RAD
Yugoslavia		YU