A mnemonic (nee-MON-ic) is a simple trick to assist in remembering something not directly related. For instance, HOMES for the names of the Great Lakes. Telephone mnemonics often use the letters on the telephone dial to spell words. Many of the mnemonics below were intentional, but a few were undoubtedly accidents.

LincMad’s Area Code Mnemonics

Code Mnem. Area Notes
223 ACE PA: Harrisburg State gov’t is ACE? (also ABE, BAD, CAD)
224 BAH IL: north sub’s of Chicago BAH humbug if you’re not a VIP
229 ABY GA: southwestern AlBanY; also BAY
234 BEG OH: Akron, Canton, Youngstown Please can we have a new code?
242 BHA Bahamas BaHAmas, or bAHAmas
246 BIM Barbados local nickname for Barbados
253 ALE WA: Tacoma Lots of brew pubs?
264 ANG Anguilla (Caribbean)  
268 ANT Antigua (Caribbean)  
269 ANY MI: Kalamazoo Give us ANY old number! (also AMY, BOW, BOX, BOY, COW, COX, COY)
276 ARM VA: southwestern Keep us at ARM’s length from D.C., BRO!
279 CRY CA: Sacramento Boo hoo, I didn’t get a 916 number
(283) ATE OH: Cincinnati Cincy ATE up all the 513 numbers
284 BVI British Virgin Islands  
289 AUX ON: Toronto suburbs secondary code (also BUY)
321 FL: Space Coast, Cape Canaveral 3-2-1-blastoff!
323 FAD CA: downtown Los Angeles The epicenter of DAD trendiness
332 DEB NY: Manhattan DEBut of a new area code
343 DIE ON: Ottawa I’d DIE for a 613 number
346 DIM TX: Houston We take a DIM view of new numbers?
347 DIP NY: NYC except Manhattan Take a DIP in the East River!
352 FLA FL: Gainesville, Ocala  
364 DOG KY: Paducah This DOG’ll hunt?
367 D’OR QC: Québec Québec, c’est la ville D’OR (FOR ms-DOS)
386 FUN FL: Daytona Beach Spring Break!
423 ICE TN: Chattanooga The South is twICE as nICE
438 GET QC: Montréal Did you GET my number? À quelle HEUre?
424 GAG CA: coastal L.A. County icky overlay cancelled (but reinstated!)
425 HAL WA: Redmond all-powerful computer run amok
(428) HAT NB: whole province, circa 2023 You can hang up your HAT in New Brunswick!
435 HEL UT: rural areas incl. HELper, Utah
437 HER ON: Toronto The Queen’s City, never know when HER majesty might visit
443 HID MD: Baltimore You should’ve HID that GIF!
445 HIL PA: Philadelphia Welcome to pHILadelphia!
447 HIS IL: Champaign, Springfield What’s HIS phone number?
456 I-56 Int’l inbound 56K discontinued in 2017
463 IND IN: Indianapolis  
469 HOW TX: Dallas HOW many area codes?
473 GRE Grenada (Caribbean)  
475 IRK CT: southwestern New code will annoy some
484 HUG PA: Phila. suburbs You’ve got a friend in PA!
534 LEG WI: Eau Claire Show some LEG in Wisconsin winter!
539 KEY OK: Tulsa Tulsa has the KEY to your heart
548 KIT ON: London, Windsor, Kitchener KITchener is all LIT up
562 JOB CA: Long Beach Get a JOB, you beach bums!
563 JOE IA: Quad Cities We’re average JOEs
564 LOG WA: western, outside Seattle metro JOG to the timber industry
573 LSD MO: Columbia, Jefferson City incl. state capital
575 KQJ NM: Las Cruces, Taos, 👽Roswell🚀 Little green men can’t spell!
585 JUL NY: Rochester when the snow melts
623 MAD AZ: west Phoenix area angry about the 3-way split?
626 MAN CA: Pasadena Man, oh, man! Do you play the OBOe?
627 NAP CA: Napa and Sonoma Counties NAPa
636 MEN MO: St. Charles, suburbs of St. Louis Real men don’t use 314?
639 NEW SK: whole province Saskatchewan has a NEW area code!
646 MHN NY: Manhattan NYC ManHattaN; Not In My 212
647 MIS ON: Toronto should’ve given this one to MISsisauga
649 MIX Turks & Caicos (Caribbean) most numbers are 649-946-xxxx
662 MOB MS: northern the MOB demanded a new number
664 Mo I Montserrat Island (Caribbean)  
667 MOR MD: Baltimore, north/east baltiMORe has more MOPs
678 Mr T GA: Atlanta The A-Team lives in Atlanta?
684 MUG American Samoa souvenir for your coffee?
726 SAN San Antonio SAN antonio
732 SEA NJ: Jersey Shore  
743 SHE NC: Greensboro, Winston-Salem SHE gets RID of what she wants!
747 SIR CA: San Fernando Valley (NW Los Angeles) Yes, SIR!
754 SKI FL: Fort Lauderdale overlay of 954 & 754
758 S Lu St. Lucia (Caribbean)  
763 SOD MN: suburbs north of Minneapolis Get this sod off my lawn!
767 ROS Dominica (Caribbean) capital is ROSeau
769 SOY MS: Jacksonville a POX on ROY and his SOY SOX
772 SPA FL: Vero Beach coastal resorts
779 SPY IL: Rockford, Joliet Sooper-seekrit overlay?
782 SUB Nova Scotia & P.E.I. SUBstitute for a PUB or a RUB
784 SVG St. Vincent & the Grenadines (Caribbean)
786 SUN FL: Miami/Dade  
787 Pt R Puerto Rico  
832 TEC TX: Houston Houston has high-TECh TEA?
838 VET NY: Albany We honor VETeran(arian)s!
839 TEX SC: Columbia Oy VEY, South Carolina annexed by TEXas
843 TID SC: Charleston, coastal THE Tidewater?
847 VIP IL: north suburbs of Chicago  
858 ULT CA: San Diego It’s the ULTimate!
859 UKY KY: Lexington, Covington Univ. of Kentucky
863 TOE FL: Lakeland dip a TOE in Lake Okeechobee
865 VOL TN: Knoxville U. Tenn. VOLs (Volunteers)
867 TOP Yukon, NWT, Nunavut (northern Canada) TOP of the world
868 TnT Trinidad & Tobago (Caribbean)  
869 TOY St. Kitts & Nevis (Caribbean) an area code is not a TOY
872 USA IL: Chicago (312 & 773)  
(879) TRY Newfoundland & Labrador (postponed) TRY to wait for the overlay
925 WAL CA: Walnut Creek, Livermore also 925=Y2K
929 WAY NY: NYC except Manhattan 🎼 Do you know the WAY to Staten Island?
936 ZEN TX: Huntsville I’ve a YEN for the ZEN
937 YES OH: Dayton Say YES to 937!
938 YET AL: Huntsville There aren’t YET any WET YETis in Alabama
947 ZIP MI: Pontiac, Troy No, these are area codes!
949 WHY CA: south Orange County WHY split 714??
979 WRY TX: College Station Aggies have a WRY sense of humor?
986 YUM Idaho Tasty Idaho potatoes 🥔

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