Random question

Why is the postal abbreviation for the Northern Marianas "MP"? I mean, I get that most of the logical alternatives--NM, MI, MA--were already taken. But that just begs the question. What does the P stand for?

--M.

Michael A.White, LLC, a lawyer at Saipan, states on his website:
http://www.freewebs.com/whitelawoffice/index.htm

"A lot of people ask me what our postal code, "MP", stands for. When we were part of the former Trust Territory, our postal code was "TT", which made a lot of sense. When we became a US Commonwealth, the USPS gave us "CM", for Commonwealth of the Marianas. And then, for some reason, they decided that wasn't good enough, and wanted to change it. We asked them for "MA", which stands for "MAriana Islands", but that was taken. So we asked for "MI", again for "Mariana Islands", but the people in Michigan didn't want to give that up. So the USPS gave us "MP"; they never told us what it meant, but I figure it must stand for "Middle of the Pacific". "

Not bad.

Sounds right to me.

Sounds a bit like Solomon Islands being SB for British Solomons, even though it happened years after they stopped being British.

Or WS for Western Samoa, even though the Western was taken off the country's name in 1997.

MP is the abbreviation for "Marianas Protectorate". As it is now a Protectorate of the USA.