# Reversed abbrevs for universities **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2003, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077 "2003-10-02T07:17:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/1 "2003-10-02T07:17:37Z")
The Universities of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma use the abbreviations CU, KU, MU, NU and OU, respectively. Those abbrevs are the reverse of what you’d expect. Anyone know why they do this? ---
**Author:** ![herwono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9f8e36/32.png) [@herwono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herwono)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/2 "2003-10-02T07:34:09Z")
Must be an American thing. Here in Australia, we have UNSW (University of New South Wales), USYD (University of Sydney), UQ (University of Queensland) etc. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/3 "2003-10-02T07:48:27Z")
Most American universities have their abbreviations in the correct order too. AFAIK, those 5 are the only ones that reverse theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/4 "2003-10-02T07:55:31Z")
There’s sometimes a difference between Colorado University and Univeristy of Colorado (to pick an example). The first would be CU and the second would be UC. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/5 "2003-10-02T08:13:42Z")
There is no Colorado University, AFAIK. The University of Colorado (at Boulder) uses the abbrev CU. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/6 "2003-10-02T09:18:46Z")
Only those 5? How about the University of Denver, which is known as DU? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/7 "2003-10-02T17:00:08Z")
Well, I did say AFIAK when talking about how many there were. That’s not a noise word but has real meaning. There may be others that I don’t know about as well. So anyone know the answer to the OP? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/8 "2003-10-02T17:26:58Z")
I actually once asked a graduate of the University of Colorado why his T-shirt said “CU” instead of “UC.” All he said was, “You just won’t understand.” The vast majority of American universities use abbreviations that follow the actual order of their full names. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/9 "2003-10-02T17:32:09Z")
When talking about the University of Nebraska, like their football team, “NU” is usually the abbreviation. In my experience this refers to the University of Nebraska - Lincoln campus. To clear up confusion locally, different abbreviations might be used for each campus: UNL (Lincoln), UNO (Omaha), and UNK (Kearney). Perhaps Kansas is known as “KU” because Kentucky uses “UK.” Maybe it’s a midwestern thing. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/10 "2003-10-02T17:49:51Z")
Midwestern? Ohio University = OU, University of Michigan = UM, etc. Maybe it’s a Great Plains thing. There are a _lot_ of universities that end up with identical abbreviations. Why would Kansas cede UK to Kentucky’s exclusive use? ---
**Author:** ![lilbtagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@lilbtagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilbtagna)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/11 "2003-10-02T20:16:45Z")
Well, it’s not a Great Plains thing. I go to OU (University of Oklahoma), and my friend goes to OSU (Oklahoma State University). Perhaps OU just sounds better than UO? ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/12 "2003-10-02T20:28:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by acsenray \* > \*\*I actually once asked a graduate of the University of Colorado why his T-shirt said “CU” instead of “UC.” All he said was, “You just won’t understand.” \*\* Speaking as a graduate of two universities who managed to spell their abbreviations correctly, that strikes me as a “hmmm… never noticed that before” response. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/13 "2003-10-02T21:15:39Z")
SNDU at H. Trinopus ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/14 "2003-10-02T22:09:49Z")
The schools in the (at the time) Big 8 – Univeristy of Colorado, University of Nebraska, University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University of Oklahoma, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, and Oklahoma State Univeristy, decided at one point to themselves as letter-U, ie, CU, NU, KU, MU, OU, ISU, KSU, OSU, but I don’t know the exact reason or date they made this decision (but I believe it was for some sort of continuity/marketing idea) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/15 "2003-10-03T00:54:54Z")
Thanks **aktep**. I’m glad someone knew. I was afraid I’d have to bump the question upstairs (to Cecil) to get the real answer. Anyone have any more info on this, like when it happened? I’m going to assume that the case of University of Denver (DU) is a copycat thing and quietly ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/16 "2003-10-03T01:42:55Z")
For anothe datum, Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts changed its name on July 4, 1959, to Iowa State University of Science and Technology. As far as I know, we’ve been ISU since then. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/17 "2003-10-03T01:47:19Z")
For another datum, Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts changed its name on July 4, 1959, to Iowa State University of Science and Technology. As far as I know, we’ve been ISU since then. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/18 "2003-10-03T16:06:34Z")
The University of Indiana is in Indiana, Pennsylvania. The one in Bloomington, Indiana is Indiana University. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/19 "2003-10-03T16:13:54Z")
No, the one in Pennsylvania is called the [the **Indiana University of Pennsylvania**](http://www.iup.edu). There is no University of Indiana. Miami University is in Oxford, Ohio. The University of Miami is in Coral Gables, Fla. The one in Ohio is about 150 years older than the one in Florida. (The Miami Indians lived in Ohio.) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077/20 "2003-10-03T16:20:54Z")
One other little tidbit about the University of Kansas (KU) – seems the local paper can’t get it straight either, they insist on referring to the school as “Kansas University”, which drives a lot of folks around here crazy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reversed-abbrevs-for-universities/205077.md?page=2)