ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Rob Watts Video Traces NATO Spelling Alphabet From 1870s Telephony to 1956 ICAO Standard

publication · 2026-09-16

In a recent video, YouTuber Rob Watts, known for his channel RobWords, delves into the history of the NATO phonetic alphabet. He points out that it is a spelling alphabet rather than a phonetic one, tracing its roots back to the 1870s with the advent of the telephone. Miscommunications among early telephonists led Western Union to create a spelling alphabet in the early 1910s, featuring names like Adams and Boston. During World War I, the British army utilized a unique version, and by World War II, each military branch had developed its own. The International Civil Aviation Organization updated the U.S.-U.K. alphabet, culminating in the NATO phonetic alphabet in 1956. Most people are familiar only with Alfa, Bravo, and Charlie. The video was published by Open Culture, featuring text by Colin Marshall.

Key facts

  • The NATO phonetic alphabet is a spelling alphabet, not a phonetic alphabet, and was not created by NATO
  • Its origins trace to the invention of the telephone in the eighteen-seventies, when early telephonists found letters misheard as one another
  • Western Union published a spelling alphabet in the early nineteen-tens using names such as Adams, Boston, Chicago, Denver and Edward
  • The British army used a World War I version with words including Beer, Monkey, Nuts, Orange, Pip and Yorker
  • By World War II every armed service in Britain and the U.S. had its own spelling alphabet
  • Work on a revised U.S.-U.K. combined forces alphabet began with the establishment of the International Civil Aviation Organization
  • ICAO finalized its list in 1956; it is officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet
  • The video was made by Rob Watts for his YouTube channel RobWords and published by Open Culture

Entities

Artists

Institutions

  • NATO
  • Western Union
  • International Civil Aviation Organization
  • RobWords
  • Open Culture
  • YouTube
  • British army

Locations

  • Seoul
  • South Korea
  • United Kingdom
  • United States

Sources

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