Chapman codes
Chapman codes are widely used abbreviations for county names. We use these three-letter codes when transcribing records as they save typing and need less space in the database than the full names.
Do not worry about researchers: they choose from a list of the county names written in full.
Chapman codes are a set of three-letter codes used in genealogy to identify the administrative divisions in the British Isles: the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
The codes were devised by the historian Dr Colin R Chapman, in the late 1970s. Today, they are a widely used shorthand in genealogy.
England counties
- Bedfordshire
- BDF
- Berkshire
- BRK
- Buckinghamshire
- BKM
- Cambridgeshire
- CAM
- Cheshire
- CHS
- Cornwall
- CON
- County Durham
- DUR
- Cumberland
- CUL
- Derbyshire
- DBY
- Devon
- DEV
- Dorset
- DOR
- Durham
- DUR
- Essex
- ESS
- Gloucestershire
- GLS
- Hampshire
- HAM
- Herefordshire
- HEF
- Hertfordshire
- HRT
- Huntingdonshire
- HUN
- Isle of Wight
- IOW
- Kent
- KEN
- Lancashire
- LAN
- Leicestershire
- LEI
- Lincolnshire
- LIN
- London (the city)
- LND
- Middlesex
- MDX
- Norfolk
- NFK
- Northamptonshire
- NTH
- Northumberland
- NBL
- Nottinghamshire
- NTT
- Oxfordshire
- OXF
- Rutland
- RUT
- Shropshire
- SAL
- Somerset
- SOM
- Staffordshire
- STS
- Suffolk
- SFK
- Surrey
- SRY
- Sussex
- SSX
- Warwickshire
- WAR
- Westmorland
- WES
- Wiltshire
- WIL
- Worcestershire
- WOR
- Yorkshire
- YKS
- East Riding Yorkshire
- ERY
- North Riding Yorkshire
- NRY
- West Riding Yorkshire
- WRY
Scotland counties
- Aberdeenshire
- ABD
- Angus (Forfarshire)
- ANS
- Argyll (Argyllshire)
- ARL
- Ayrshire
- AYR
- Banffshire
- BAN
- Berwickshire
- BEW
- Bute (Buteshire)
- BUT
- Caithness
- CAI
- Clackmannanshire
- CLK
- Dumfriesshire
- DFS
- Dunbartonshire
- DNB
- East Lothian (Haddingtonshire)
- ELN
- Edinburghshire
- MLN
- Elginshire
- MOR
- Fife
- FIF
- Forfarshire
- ANS
- Haddingtonshire
- ELN
- Inverness-shire
- INV
- Kincardineshire
- KCD
- Kinross-shire
- KRS
- Kirkcudbrightshire
- KKD
- Lanarkshire
- LKS
- Linlithgowshire
- WLN
- Midlothian (Edinburghshire)
- MLN
- Moray (Elginshire)
- MOR
- Nairnshire
- NAI
- Orkney
- OKI
- Peeblesshire
- PEE
- Perthshire
- PER
- Renfrewshire
- RFW
- Ross and Cromarty
- ROC
- Roxburghshire
- ROX
- Selkirkshire
- SEL
- Shetland
- SHI
- Stirlingshire
- STI
- Sutherland
- SUT
- West Lothian (Linlithgowshire)
- WLN
- Wigtownshire
- WIG
Wales counties
- Anglesey
- AGY
- Breconshire
- BRE
- Caernarvonshire
- CAE
- Cardiganshire
- CGN
- Carmarthenshire
- CMN
- Denbighshire
- DEN
- Flintshire
- FLN
- Glamorgan
- GLA
- Merionethshire
- MER
- Monmouthshire
- MON
- Montgomeryshire
- MGY
- Pembrokeshire
- PEM
- Radnorshire
- RAD
Northern Ireland counties
- Antrim
- ANT
- Armagh
- ARM
- Down
- DOW
- Fermanagh
- FER
- Londonderry
- LDY
- Tyrone
- TYR
Islands
- Channel Isles
- CHI
- Alderney
- ALD
- Guernsey
- GSY
- Jersey
- JSY
- Sark
- SRK
- Isle of Man
- IOM