Hello Listers, As a Canadian, who served with the our Military in Europe in the 70's and again in the 80's. Our 1983 Licence Plate was white with red outer border, numbers and letters, "LY44," which we managed to keep as memento. We remember our 1971 plate as black on white. Above the licence number was "CANADA," flanked on both sides with a red maple leaf. We were also required to place a 10 centimetre wide, white oval sticker, with black oval outline, and black lettering with "CDN" on the rear of our vehicle. I believe this to be the origin of the term "CDN." The CHAPMAN CODEs are internationally recognized short forms (abbreviations) for Counties for the British Isles, and also the Country Codes and their Provinces/States, normally used in family history / genealogy. See http://www.rootsweb.com/~wlsgfhs/ChapmanCodes.htm#Countries Thus, Canada is identified as CAN. Our military plate allowed us unfettered crossing to all NATO countries. (Remember: that was BRD (Bundesrepublic Deutschland, West Germany) ((versus the current combined DEU) FRA, HOL, BEL, LUX, ITA, ESP, MCO, PRT, MIL, GRC, etc. To avoid potential confusion with 2-character ISO Country Codes codes for Canadian provinces should always be followed by "CAN" Another convention in genealogy documents is that we capitalize surnames. Ron BLANK, Nanaimo, BC, CAN

----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Blank" Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 12:32 AM Subject: Re: [MIDLOTHIAN] Cdn > As a Canadian, who served with the our Military in Europe in the 70's and > again in the 80's. Our 1983 Licence Plate was white with red outer > border, > numbers and letters, "LY44," which we managed to keep as memento. We > remember our 1971 plate as black on white. Above the licence number was > "CANADA," flanked on both sides with a red maple leaf. We were also > required to place a 10 centimetre wide, white oval sticker, with black > oval > outline, and black lettering with "CDN" on the rear of our vehicle. > > I believe this to be the origin of the term "CDN." > > The CHAPMAN CODEs are internationally recognized short forms > (abbreviations) > for Counties for the British Isles, and also the Country Codes and their > Provinces/States, normally used in family history / genealogy. See > http://www.rootsweb.com/~wlsgfhs/ChapmanCodes.htm#Countries Thus, Canada > is > identified as CAN. > > Our military plate allowed us unfettered crossing to all NATO countries. > (Remember: that was BRD (Bundesrepublic Deutschland, West Germany) > ((versus > the current combined DEU) FRA, HOL, BEL, LUX, ITA, ESP, MCO, PRT, MIL, > GRC, > etc. > > To avoid potential confusion with 2-character ISO Country Codes codes for > Canadian provinces should always be followed by "CAN" Another convention > in > genealogy documents is that we capitalize surnames. Like you Ron, I'm also ex-military ... Royal Canadian Navy actually (pre-unification). I don't remember using CDN back then. CAN does seem really familar when thinking along RCN usage; I worked on alot of NATO/Commonwealth 'stuff', as an RP at the Warfare School in Stadacona. My father was RCN, PPCLI-2 & RCASC, covering years 1939 to 1970. Brother-in-law 1968 -1998, RC Sigs. Son 1986 - 2003, RCNVR, RCAF & RC Sigs (Rwanda, Bosnia & Kosovar). Seems to me, CDN wasn't used in Canada when my b/i/l was in Germany & Holland c'78-81, although when they returned with their (civy) car, it did have a black & white CDN sticker on it. I remember various family members commenting on it, as none of us had seen one (sticker) like it before. My understanding of the Chapman Code was to 'standardize' abreviations for countries, so there was no mistake on which was meant, though I could be wrong. There were many country name changes during the 60s & 70s, with countries and/or regions being divided up, so everyone was confused on what the abreviations were. I find many people still don't know anything about the code or cannot tell which country is meant with some. Personally, I still use CAN within Canada, or write it out in full, when sending overseas. No errors then! [My mother and my husband are both ex-RN.] Toni ~ Ontario