Explanation

Posted on: June 19, 2019 at 10:10:00 CT

When MU was founded in 1839, it was originally called "Missouri State University"[1] ("MSU"). If you try to pronounce "MSU" as a word instead of an acronym, it sounds a lot like "Mizzou", and that's how the nick name started.[2]

As "Missouri State" became more and more research-intensive[3], it eventually dropped the "State" from its name and became "The University of Missouri"[4]. After this name change (late 19th century), it became acceptable to abbreviate the university as "UM", but a couple things eventually changed that:

1) In 1963, the University of Missouri SYSTEM was created by adding (or rebranding) colleges in St. Louis (UMSL), Kansas City (UMKC), and Rolla (UMR). The flagship campus in Columbia (i.e., Mizzou) became "UMC". The previous abbreviation, "UM", quickly became ambiguous with the new system and naming convention.

2) Around the same time the University System was created, the Big 8 conference decided that all of its schools would be abbreviated with "U" at the end (for consistency). And to this day, all of them still do.

And that's how "MU" became the official abbreviation.