In addition to commercial uses, alphabetic dialing has occasionally influenced the choice of regional area codes in the United States. For example, when area 423 (East Tennessee) was split in 1999, the region surrounding Knoxville was assigned area code 865, chosen to represent the word "VOL" ("Volunteers"), the nickname of Tennessee ("The Volunteer State"), as well as athletic teams at the University of Tennessee. Another example of this is area code 859 in Kentucky, which was chosen to represent 'UKY' as a nod to the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, the code's principal city.