Guide Rankings Geography Updated May 14, 2026

Longest and Shortest State Names

All 50 U.S. state names listed and colored by letter count, from Massachusetts at 13 letters to Iowa, Ohio, and Utah at 4

Longest and Shortest State Names

Ranking - Geography

Quick Answer

Longest and Shortest State Names

  1. 1

    Massachusetts, North Carolina, and South Carolina each have 13 letters, the most of any U.S. state name. Iowa, Ohio, and Utah each have 4 letters, the fewest. Rankings here count letters only and exclude spaces.

  2. 2

    Three state names tie at the top and three tie at the bottom. In between, 8-letter names are the most common: eleven states have them, including Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and Virginia.

  3. 3

    Rhode Island held the longest official state name in U.S. history at 47 characters. Rhode Island voters removed 'Providence Plantations' from the official name in November 2020. The current official name is simply Rhode Island.

Map

U.S. State Names by Letter Count Map

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Tile-grid cartogram of the 50 states shaded from 4 to 13 letters. Massachusetts and both Carolinas lead at 13, while Iowa, Ohio, and Utah are shortest at 4.
U.S. State Names by Letter Count Map
Rank State letters
1 Massachusetts 13
1 North Carolina 13
1 South Carolina 13
4 New Hampshire 12
4 Pennsylvania 12
4 West Virginia 12
7 Connecticut 11
7 Mississippi 11
7 North Dakota 11
7 Rhode Island 11
7 South Dakota 11
12 California 10
12 Washington 10
14 Louisiana 9
14 Minnesota 9
14 New Jersey 9
14 New Mexico 9
14 Tennessee 9
14 Wisconsin 9
20 Arkansas 8
20 Colorado 8
20 Delaware 8
20 Illinois 8
20 Kentucky 8
20 Maryland 8
20 Michigan 8
20 Missouri 8
20 Nebraska 8
20 Oklahoma 8
20 Virginia 8
31 Alabama 7
31 Arizona 7
31 Florida 7
31 Georgia 7
31 Indiana 7
31 Montana 7
31 New York 7
31 Vermont 7
31 Wyoming 7
40 Alaska 6
40 Hawaii 6
40 Kansas 6
40 Nevada 6
40 Oregon 6
45 Idaho 5
45 Maine 5
45 Texas 5
48 Iowa 4
48 Ohio 4
48 Utah 4

Tile-grid cartogram of the 50 states shaded from 4 to 13 letters. Massachusetts and both Carolinas lead at 13, while Iowa, Ohio, and Utah are shortest at 4.

Longest and Shortest State Names Table

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Print-ready table — Longest and Shortest State Names

Longest and Shortest U.S. State Names

Highest

13
Massachusetts flag
Massachusetts #1

Lowest

4
Utah flag
Utah #48

Top 10 Highest — Letters

#1 Massachusetts flag Massachusetts
13
#1 North Carolina flag North Carolina
13
#1 South Carolina flag South Carolina
13
#4 New Hampshire flag New Hampshire
12
#4 Pennsylvania flag Pennsylvania
12
#4 West Virginia flag West Virginia
12
#7 Connecticut flag Connecticut
11
#7 Mississippi flag Mississippi
11
#7 North Dakota flag North Dakota
11
#7 Rhode Island flag Rhode Island
11

Top 10 Lowest — Letters

#48 Utah flag Utah
4
#48 Ohio flag Ohio
4
#48 Iowa flag Iowa
4
#45 Texas flag Texas
5
#45 Maine flag Maine
5
#45 Idaho flag Idaho
5
#40 Oregon flag Oregon
6
#40 Nevada flag Nevada
6
#40 Kansas flag Kansas
6
#40 Hawaii flag Hawaii
6

What Is the Longest State Name?

Bar chart showing all 50 U.S. state names ranked from shortest to longest by letter count
Letter counts range from 4 (Iowa, Ohio, Utah) to 13 (Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina). Eight-letter names are most common, shared by eleven states.

Massachusetts, North Carolina, and South Carolina each have 13 letters without spaces, placing all three at the top of the letter-count ranking.

When spaces count as characters, the comparison shifts. Massachusetts stays at 13 characters. North Carolina and South Carolina each reach 14 characters because of the space between two words. Most letter-count rankings, including this one, exclude spaces, so Massachusetts shares first place with both Carolinas.

Pennsylvania and New Hampshire rank next at 12 letters each, joined by West Virginia at 12 letters. Pennsylvania is the only one-word name among the three; New Hampshire and West Virginia each have one space in the full name.

What Is the Shortest State Name?

Iowa, Ohio, and Utah each have 4 letters, the fewest of any U.S. state. All three are single words with no silent letters or unusual spellings.

Iowa comes from an Ioway people's name rendered into English through French; Ohio from a Seneca word for 'large creek'; Utah from the Ute people's own name for themselves. All three names passed through anglicization that compressed them into their current 4-letter forms.

States with Four-Letter Names

Three states have 4-letter names: Iowa, Ohio, and Utah. No U.S. state has a name shorter than 4 letters. All three are one-word names.

Geographically, Iowa is in the Midwest, Ohio is in the Great Lakes region, and Utah is in the Mountain West. All three sit in the interior of the country, none on the Atlantic or Pacific coast.

Rhode Island and the Longest Official State Name

Rhode Island State House in Providence with its white marble dome
Rhode Island dropped "Providence Plantations" from its official name after a November 2020 ballot vote, ending a 357-year-old colonial-era title.

Before November 2020, Rhode Island's full official name was 'State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,' 47 characters including spaces. That name dated to the colonial charter of 1663 and was the longest official state name in U.S. history.

Rhode Island voters passed Question 1 in November 2020, removing 'Providence Plantations' from the official title. The change passed with about 53 percent of the vote. The current official name is simply Rhode Island.

Without that vote, Rhode Island would rank well above Massachusetts on any full-name comparison. Under the current official name, Rhode Island ranks 7th by letter count at 11 letters, tied with Connecticut, Mississippi, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Quick Answers

What state has the longest name
Massachusetts, North Carolina, and South Carolina all tie for the longest U.S. state name at 13 letters each when spaces are not counted. If spaces are included as characters, North Carolina and South Carolina reach 14 characters versus 13 for Massachusetts.
What state has the shortest name
Iowa, Ohio, and Utah are the three shortest U.S. state names, each with 4 letters. No state has a name shorter than 4 letters. All three are single-word names.
Do you count spaces when measuring state name length
Most rankings count letters only and exclude spaces. Under that method, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and South Carolina all tie at 13. If spaces count as characters, North Carolina and South Carolina reach 14 characters and Massachusetts stays at 13.
Is Rhode Island the longest state name
Rhode Island is not the longest current state name; it ranks 7th at 11 letters. It was historically notable because its full official name, 'State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,' ran to 47 characters. Voters removed 'Providence Plantations' in November 2020.
What states have 4-letter names
Iowa, Ohio, and Utah are the only U.S. states with 4-letter names. They are also the three shortest state names. No other state has fewer than 5 letters.
What is the most common state name length
Eight letters is the most common state name length. Eleven states share 8-letter names: Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Virginia.

Methodology

Letter counts exclude spaces; character counts include spaces. States with identical letter counts share the same rank. Alphabetical order is used within tied groups.

Sources

Information is cross-referenced with official state archives.
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