Chapman codes are a set of 3-letter codes used in genealogy to identify the administrative divisions in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Use 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 existing in the 19th and 20th centuries. Other uses Chapman codes have no mapping, postal or administrative use. They can however be useful for disambiguation by postal services where a full county name or traditional abbreviation is not supplied after a place name which has more than one occurrence, a particular problem where these are post towns such as Richmond. Country codes CHI Channel Islands ENG England IOM Isle of Man IRL Ireland NIR Northern Ireland SCT Scotland WLS Wales ALL All countries Channel Islands ALD Alderney GSY Guernsey JSY Jersey SRK Sark England Historic counties BDF Bedfordshire BRK Berkshire BKM Buckinghamshire CAM Cambridgeshire CHS Cheshire CON Cornwall CUL Cumberland DBY Derbyshire DEV Devonshire DOR Dorset DUR Durham ESS Essex GLS Gloucestershire HAM Hampshire HEF Herefordshire HRT Hertfordshire HUN Huntingdonshire KEN Kent LAN Lancashire LEI Leicestershire LIN Lincolnshire MDX Middlesex NFK Norfolk NTH Northamptonshire NBL Northumberland NTT Nottinghamshire OXF Oxfordshire RUT Rutland SAL Shropshire (Salop) SOM Somerset STS Staffordshire SFK Suffolk SRY Surrey SSX Sussex WAR Warwickshire WES Westmorland WIL Wiltshire WOR Worcestershire YKS Yorkshire ERY East Riding NRY North Riding WRY West Riding Administrative areas AVN Avon CLV Cleveland CMA Cumbria SXE East Sussex GTM Greater Manchester HWR Hereford and Worcester HUM Humberside IOW Isle of Wight LND London MSY Merseyside WMD West Midlands NYK North Yorkshire SYK South Yorkshire TWR Tyne and Wear SXW West Sussex WYK West Yorkshire Scotland Historic counties ABD Aberdeenshire ANS Angus (formerly Forfarshire) ARL Argyll (Argyllshire) AYR Ayrshire BAN Banffshire BEW Berwickshire BUT Bute (Buteshire) CAI Caithness CLK Clackmannanshire DFS Dumfriesshire DNB Dunbartonshire ELN East Lothian (formerly Haddingtonshire) FIF Fife INV Inverness-shire KCD Kincardineshire KRS Kinross-shire KKD Kirkcudbrightshire LKS Lanarkshire MLN Midlothian (formerly Edinburghshire) MOR Moray (formerly Elginshire) NAI Nairnshire OKI Orkney PEE Peeblesshire PER Perthshire RFW Renfrewshire ROC Ross and Cromarty ROX Roxburghshire SEL Selkirkshire SHI Shetland STI Stirlingshire SUT Sutherland WLN West Lothian (formerly Linlithgowshire) WIG Wigtownshire 1975–1996 regions BOR Borders CEN Central DGY Dumfries and Galloway FIF Fife GMP Grampian HLD Highland LTN