Why the code is MD
Eight states begin with M, more than any other letter, and only one of them could have the first two letters of its own name. When USPS cut every state to two letters in October 1963, so that city, state and the new ZIP code would fit on a single address line, Massachusetts took MA and the other seven had to look further into their names.
Maryland already had an answer in print: Md., the traditional dateline form, built from the first letter and the last. Uppercase it, drop the period, and you have the postal code. The rest of the M block resolved the same way, each state claiming a letter no neighbour had taken: ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT.
The 1963 list was not final. Nebraska was published as NB and changed to NE later in the decade, the one state code that has moved since. Maryland's has been MD from the first printing.
Codes people confuse with MD
| Code | State | Why the mix-up happens |
|---|---|---|
| MA | Massachusetts | Maryland itself starts M, a. Writing MA for Maryland is the single most common wrong answer, and it posts mail to a state 400 miles north. |
| ME | Maine | Built by the same rule as MD, first letter plus last letter, and it sits on the next line down in an alphabetical menu. |
| MI | Michigan | Michigan uses the plain first two letters. Learning that pattern from MI pushes people to apply it to Maryland, which produces MA. |
| MN | Minnesota | First letter plus third. With three different rules running inside one letter block, guessing an M code stops working. |
| DC | District of Columbia | Bethesda, Silver Spring and College Park get described as Washington in conversation, but every one of them is an MD address. |
Quick facts about Maryland
Capital: Annapolis
Largest city: Baltimore
Region: Mid-Atlantic, filed by the Census Bureau under the South Atlantic division
Statehood: 1788, the 7th state to ratify the Constitution
Population band: 5 to 10 million
Nickname: the Old Line State
Maryland ranks 42nd of 50 by area, so a state that holds several million people is smaller than all but eight others. Its northern border with Pennsylvania is the Mason-Dixon Line, and the District of Columbia stands on land Maryland ceded in the 1790s, which is why the state wraps around Washington on three sides. Chesapeake Bay cuts the rest of it into an Eastern Shore and a Western Shore. Annapolis, a small city by any measure, served as the seat of the Confederation Congress in 1783 and 1784.
Where you will see MD
- Mail. Annapolis, MD, followed by a ZIP in the 206 to 219 range. Baltimore uses 212, and the ZIPs nearest Washington run 207 to 209.
- License plates. The plate carries the state flag pattern rather than the code. MD is on the registration and the title.
- Sports. The Ravens and the Orioles are labelled BAL for Baltimore, so the state code turns up mainly in college bracket graphics, where Maryland is squeezed down to MD.
- Everything else. MD is also a doctor of medicine, a managing director in banking and the ISO country code for Moldova. Only the address line guarantees it means the state.
- Crosswords. Clues point at the capital or the port, along the lines of Annapolis's state, with the shortened form in the clue signalling a two-letter answer.
Beat the M block
Statedoku uses codes, capitals and regions as puzzle constraints. Play daily and the eight M states stop blurring together.
Play today's puzzle →