The Friday File: The shortest city name in 28 states has three letters; in 17 states it has four letters. Here is where it gets interesting. In three states, CT (Derby), DE (Dover) and NH (Dover), the shortest city name has five characters, and in VT (Ludlow) it has six. But the winner, tiny Rhode Island, where the shortest city name (Warwick), unbelievably has seven letters. Small states, big names.