Hants

[Woody]

Ever wondered where Hampshire got its name and why we abbreviate it "Hants"?

Well the county has in the past been called "Southamptonshire" and appears as such on some Victorian maps. The name of the administrative county was changed from 'County of Southampton' to 'County of Hampshire' on April 1, 1959. The short form of the name, often used in postal addresses, is Hants. Hampshire is often abbreviated in written form to Hants and which sometimes gives rise to puzzlement. The abbreviated form is derived from the Old English Hantum plus Scir (meaning a district governed from the settlement now known as Southampton) and the Anglo-Saxons called it Hamtunschire. At the time of the Domesday Book (1086) this was compressed to Hantescire.

Well I never.