.Why is it that in Spanish the abbreviation for USA is EE.UU? when the actual name is Estados Unidos?

Answer 1

The double E and double U indicate that the letter represents a plural. Some other common Spanish abbreviations, among them FF. AA. for Fuerzas Armadas (Armed Forces) and AA. EE. for Asuntos Exteriores (Foreign Affairs), do the same thing. (Also in very common use are the abbreviations without the spaces and/or periods, such as EEUU, FFAA and AAEE.) Such a doubling of letters isn't done for all plurals; ONU is the abbreviation for la Organización de las Naciones Unidas, the United Nations.

Answer 2

To distinguish from the European Union. Since Estados Unidos is plural in Spanish, the double EE and UU is in a plural form.

Answer 3

We use EE. UU. because the name is plural. EU would stand for "United State". In fact, the correct way to write it is leaving a space between EE and UU; and the point after each of the parts is important because it denotes an abbreviation.
Another example is FF. AA. for Fuerzas Armadas (Armed Forces).

An interesting article about these plurals (in Spanish):
http://www.ucm.es/info/especulo/cajetin/cc_oo.html

Answer 4

In Spanish, with an abbreviation, to represent the fact that something is plural, they use double letters.

Answer 5

Because EU is the international abbreviation for European Union.

Answer 6

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