Add subdivision flags, USA

[Keijtta]

What are subdivision flags?

With Emoji version 5.0 (Unicode 10.0), subdivision flags was added to the standard. Any subdivision specified in ISO 3166-2 are valid for an emoji representation, and can be represented by a flag if there is one. For example, US-TX stands for Texas, and US-CA stands for California.

As of now, the only subdivision flags supported by Twemoji are England (⚑gbeng✦), Scotland (⚑gbsct✦), Wales (⚑gbwls✦) – WhatsApp has also added supported support for Texas (⚑ustx✦)

Read more: Emoji Flags Explained, US State Flag Emojis Now Possible,

Emoji picker concerns

A concern for supporting subdivisions is how users would select these flags from emoji keyboards and emoji pickers. For emoji keyboards on iOS and Android; users are able to pick gender and skin colour by long pressing a human emoji, the same can be done by long pressing a country flag and selecting a subdivision. – For emoji pickers on Twitter.com and Discord; genders are split, and the skin colour picker being a separate option. The best idea I have is to allow the user to hover over a flag, and a popup shows the subdivisions: example design. The black arrow shows that there are subdivisions.

Content of pull request

This pull request contains 50 states, District of Columbia, and 6 outlying areas. The 6 outlying areas are already exist as flags as part of ISO 3166-1, using the Regional Indicator Symbol Letter emoji, and have simply been copied over and renamed for completeness.

Flag	Code	Name	Category
	⚑usak✦	Alaska	state
	⚑usal✦	Alabama	state
	⚑usar✦	Arkansas	state
	⚑usas✦	American Samoa	outlying area
	⚑usaz✦	Arizona	state
	⚑usca✦	California	state
	⚑usco✦	Colorado	state
	⚑usct✦	Connecticut	state
	⚑usdc✦	District of Columbia	district
	⚑usde✦	Delaware	state
	⚑usfl✦	Florida	state
	⚑usga✦	Georgia	state
	⚑usgu✦	Guam	outlying area
	⚑ushi✦	Hawaii	state
	⚑usia✦	Iowa	state
	⚑usid✦	Idaho	state
	⚑usil✦	Illinois	state
	⚑usin✦	Indiana	state
	⚑usks✦	Kansas	state
	⚑usky✦	Kentucky	state
	⚑usla✦	Louisiana	state
	⚑usma✦	Massachusetts	state
	⚑usmd✦	Maryland	state
	⚑usme✦	Maine	state
	⚑usmi✦	Michigan	state
	⚑usmn✦	Minnesota	state
	⚑usmo✦	Missouri	state
	⚑usmp✦	Northern Mariana Islands	outlying area
	⚑usms✦	Mississippi	state
	⚑usmt✦	Montana	state
	⚑usnc✦	North Carolina	state
	⚑usnd✦	North Dakota	state
	⚑usne✦	Nebraska	state
	⚑usnh✦	New Hampshire	state
	⚑usnj✦	New Jersey	state
	⚑usnm✦	New Mexico	state
	⚑usnv✦	Nevada	state
	⚑usny✦	New York	state
	⚑usoh✦	Ohio	state
	⚑usok✦	Oklahoma	state
	⚑usor✦	Oregon	state
	⚑uspa✦	Pennsylvania	state
	⚑uspr✦	Puerto Rico	outlying area
	⚑usri✦	Rhode Island	state
	⚑ussc✦	South Carolina	state
	⚑ussd✦	South Dakota	state
	⚑ustn✦	Tennessee	state
	⚑ustx✦	Texas	state
	⚑usum✦	U.S. Minor Outlying Islands	outlying area
	⚑usut✦	Utah	state
	⚑usva✦	Virginia	state
	⚑usvi✦	U.S. Virgin Islands	outlying area
	⚑usvt✦	Vermont	state
	⚑uswa✦	Washington	state
	⚑uswi✦	Wisconsin	state
	⚑uswv✦	West Virginia	state
	⚑uswy✦	Wyoming	state

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[Kanjilearner817]

You might want to change the flag for Mississippi to some kind of placeholder (like the state bicentennial flag), as the flag that had been in use 1894 has been retired by state law.

[Keijtta]

@Kanjilearner817 Thank you for informing me. The flag has been removed as of now, leaving 49 states (+ DC + 6 outlying areas). The Bicentennial flag is the de facto replacement as of now; anyone is free to create this flag and push it to Keijtta:subdiv-US if they like. I will personally wait until an official flag is announced before I create an emoji for it.

[AbyssStudios]

I will work on that. What is the file for it?

[Keijtta]

@Kanjilearner817 @AbyssStudios I have re-added the Mississippi flag, basing it on the The New Magnolia that is pending approval.

[VFDan]

As an update, that is the approved flag of Mississippi.

[kraftbj]

Even without having the picker available, this would be a welcome addition for us non-Twitter consumers of Twemoji (WordPress 😀 ).

[Keijtta]

@kraftbj yes, and also without the picker, you can still copy and paste them from Emojipedia, use commands like :Alaska: on Discord and Github, and also search for emojis to find it. After it being implemented of course.

[KeijttaWolf]

I made a new pull request over at the active project over here: jdecked/twemoji#99

It also contains the new flags for Minnesota and Utah that were adopted in 2024.

This pull request can be closed. I can't do it myself since I lost access to the original account.