# Term for last two digits of the year **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2023, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-last-two-digits-of-the-year/986711 "2023-07-07T03:03:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-last-two-digits-of-the-year/986711/1 "2023-07-07T03:03:06Z")
I remember from y2k fix programming there is a name for the last to digits of the year. for example ‘99’ from 1899 or ‘23’ from 2023.,or even ‘69’ from 169. But I cannot think of it. All I can come up with modulus , which is actually true, but not what I am thinking of. I also keep coming back to Ordinal, but that is not even close. Maybe something vaguely numismatic as well. " I can see this coin is from the 1600’s but I cannot read the [Term not found}" Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-last-two-digits-of-the-year/986711/2 "2023-07-07T04:52:08Z")
Terminal digits? ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-last-two-digits-of-the-year/986711/3 "2023-07-07T06:44:30Z")
In the days of y2k the problem would be the PIC 99 problem. 😃 I doubt that is the term you are looking for, but programmers of a certain age would know exactly what that meant. > [@](#): > > I can see this coin is from the 1600’s but I cannot read the _Terminal digits_ is pretty good. _Least significant digits_ is another. _Decade and year_ is pretty specific, but not a discrete term. So, what I did find, the ANSI Standard for information interchange of representation for calendar date and ordinal date for informations interchange, from 1988 (now long obsolete and withdrawn) uses the term _year of century_ to reference the two digit pair. [PDF here](https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/FIPS/fipspub4-1.pdf). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-last-two-digits-of-the-year/986711/4 "2023-07-07T13:15:14Z")
Must not’ve been a commonly used term. ‘yy’ was a common reference for a 2 digit year, meaning the last 2 (least significant) digits. I never heard it called anything but ‘year’ with context distinguishing 2 or 4 digit representations. But if we wait until 2038 when the Unix Bug that John Titor traveled through time to help us fix that could make all the refrigerators crash and the food on airplanes not stay cold then maybe this forgotten term will be used again. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-last-two-digits-of-the-year/986711/5 "2023-07-07T14:03:54Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > ‘yy’ was a common reference for a 2 digit year That’s probably what I’d use. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-last-two-digits-of-the-year/986711/6 "2023-07-07T15:46:30Z")
I like “year of century”. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-last-two-digits-of-the-year/986711/7 "2023-07-07T15:53:14Z")
“Year of century” is all we ever used, and damn did we use it a lot in 1998 and 1999. We often abbreviated it “yoc” in our development team, but that’s not particularly official or widespread. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-last-two-digits-of-the-year/986711/8 "2023-07-07T16:53:15Z")
Cecil.