# Why are congressional districts numbered rather than named? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 21, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249 "2012-01-21T22:08:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/1 "2012-01-21T22:08:25Z")
Just curious - in Britain, Canada, and (I think) Australia, constituencies have names. For instance, the current Prime Minister represents the constituency of Calgary Southwest, the Speaker is from Regina-Qu’Appelle, the Leader of the Opposition represents Hull-Aylmer, and so on. Why do all the states number their districts? I think it helps add context if you know the name of the district, and is certainly more colourful than just a number. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/2 "2012-01-21T22:10:32Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I think it helps add context if you know the name of the district, and is certainly more colourful than just a number. I dunno, same reason we spell “colorful” with only one “u”? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/3 "2012-01-21T22:11:46Z")
Noah Webster went around to all the state legislatures and urged them to use numbers? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/4 "2012-01-21T22:13:54Z")
They get redrawn every ten years. Might make it confusing if you name a district after a particular town and then its moved so that it no longer contains the town. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/5 "2012-01-21T22:30:41Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Noah Webster went around to all the state legislatures and urged them to use numbers? Why would Noah Webster do that? I’d expect him to prefer that they each have a different name, preferably from words that only appeared in HIS dictionary… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/6 "2012-01-21T22:32:43Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > They get redrawn every ten years. Might make it confusing if you name a district after a particular town and then its moved so that it no longer contains the town. So do ours. If necessary, the name changes to reflect the new boundaries. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/7 "2012-01-21T22:33:47Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Why would Noah Webster do that? I’d expect him to prefer that they each have a different name, preferably from words that only appeared in HIS dictionary… I was just riffing on **BrainGlutton’s** comment. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/8 "2012-01-21T22:46:37Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > So do ours. If necessary, the name changes to reflect the new boundaries. Then what’s the point of naming them? I mean, prior to the 2010 Census, the 1st Congressional District in Missouri historically included the north side of St. Louis, the 2nd District was the county outside the city limits, while the 3rd District included the city’s south side. As a result of population shifts, the 3rd District is being eliminated. Does it make any more sense to rename the districts “Most of north St. Louis and St. Louis County” and “Most of south St. Louis and St. Louis County?” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/9 "2012-01-21T22:50:00Z")
If I see “Regina-Qu’Appelle” after an MP’s name on a newscast, I know immediately his rough location. I don’t have to google to see where the 3rd Electoral district is and what it covers. Usually there’s considerable continuity in the names; it’s only if a province gets additional seats that there’s a major re-jigging of the names. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/10 "2012-01-21T23:26:10Z")
While it doesn’t explain why the US _never_ did district names (the 1st Parliament of Lower Canada in 1791 seems to have had named ridings, and the 1st Congress seems to have had numbered districts), I think it would be harder to change _now_, because congressional districts are, on average, 7 times larger than Canadian federal ridings and much less compact. I don’t know what kind of helpful names you could apply to [this monstrosity.](http://www.onntv.com/content/graphics/2011/12/14/new_congressional_map.PNG) There are probably euphemistically aquatic names that you could come up with for, say, 6 and 9, but what in the hell does 11 enclose that you could make a suitable name out of? “Cleveland and Akron - the Black Parts” would probably ruffle feathers. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/11 "2012-01-21T23:33:44Z")
I thought the districts would be named by the individual states which drew them - did all of the original states choose numbers? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/12 "2012-01-21T23:35:20Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > . . . what in the hell does 11 enclose that you could make a suitable name out of? “Cleveland and Akron - the Black Parts” would probably ruffle feathers. Blakron. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/13 "2012-01-21T23:43:30Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I thought the districts would be named by the individual states which drew them - did all of the original states choose numbers? Actually, now that I look in more detail, at least one ([South Carolina](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_South_Carolina,_1788)) _did_ have names, and [New York](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_New_York,_1789) didn’t name or number its original districts. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/14 "2012-01-22T01:34:01Z")
In Australia, electorates are generally named after the main city or town in the electorate (e.g., Sydney and Fremantle), the general area of the electorate (e.g., New England and Gippsland), or some famous person (e.g., Lalor, Griffith and Bennelong, the seats of the most recent three prime ministers of Australia). Looking at a list of [Australian federal electorates](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divisions_of_the_Australian_House_of_Representatives), my guess is that at least 70% are named after famous people. [Redistributions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redistribution_%28Australia%29) must take place at least every seven years, and there is an attempt to keep old names as boundaries change. So (for example) in the 111 years since federation where I now live has always been in the [Federal Electorate of Newcastle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_Newcastle), although the boundaries have changed. (It’s notable for having had the lowest number of federal members since federation – just 5 – and of always having been represented by a member of the same political party.) There’s a similar system in all the Australian states, which (in New South Wales) goes back at least to the formation of the NSW Legislative Assembly in 1856. I suspect that it was done because the men setting up the colonial legislatures were looking to the British Parliament as a model, and House of Commons seats have been named after cities, boroughs or counties for a very long time. ---
**Author:** ![Snupzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Snupzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snupzilla)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/15 "2012-01-22T03:51:52Z")
In the US, the drawing of districts is left up to the states’ elected (i.e. partisan) officials rather than some non-partisan group like in the UK. Gerrymandering produces a lot of non-cohesive districts that would be very hard to name since they are basically just unrelated areas frankensteined together to help the party in power. I live in one of the ten largest cities in the US yet the district I live in composed of rural farmland halfway across the state. The only way you could name it is maybe by the animal it most resembles, like what people do with clouds. For comparison, here are the US districts: > **[File:2008 House elections.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2008_House_elections.svg)** > > Original file ‎(SVG file, nominally 2,583 × 1,557 pixels, file size: 535 KB) > Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. > You cannot overwrite this file. The following page uses this file: Here are the UK’s: > **[File:2010UKElectionMap.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2010UKElectionMap.svg)** > > Original file ‎(SVG file, nominally 1,248 × 1,039 pixels, file size: 5.18 MB) > Derivative works of this file: > Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. > You cannot overwrite this file. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-congressional-districts-numbered-rather-than-named/610249/16 "2012-01-22T04:01:07Z")
The smallest states have only one congressional district, which makes naming kinda redundant. But mostly I think this question has the same answer as, why do public schools in New York City have numbers instead of names? Because.