FARGO-It's been 10 years since Marie Jensen lived in New York City, but the Fargo native and Grand Forks resident has no plans to give up her cell number with its telltale 917 area code.
She received it with her first cellphone during freshman year at New York University.
"It's hard to let go of," Jensen said. "It feels like a part of my identity."
For Debbie Winzenburg, who moved to Denver from Fargo with her husband two years ago to be close to a daughter and grandkids, her North Dakota number brings memories of home.
"I'm just proud of my 701 area code. It brings up conversations with others and I don't plan to give it up," Winzenburg said.
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When all we had were landlines, a person's area code was a direct indication of where they were living. Now, in a cultural shift, it can also signify a place where they grew up or one that has special significance to them.
As Jensen pointed out, being emotionally tied to one's area code was even a plot point in the "Sex and the City" movie, where Carrie Bradshaw complains about being assigned a new area code. "No, I'm a 917 gal, always have been," the character proclaimed.
Area codes were developed in the late 1940's, according to the North American Numbering Plan Administration, which distributes and oversees telephone numbers in the U.S., Canada and some Caribbean countries.
Its website says AT&T came up with the numbering system to allow callers to sidestep live operators and dial long distance directly. Using three-digit area codes, the system helped carriers distinguish between those billable long distance calls and free local calls.
Geography is still a factor today, but like our phones, it's gone mobile. Sometimes, that can lead to confusion.
Tom Knight, a former Fargo and Grand Forks resident, tried to retain his cell number when he moved from Northfield, Minn. to Little Rock, Ark.
"I was being stubborn and wanted to keep my 507," Knight said of the code covering southern Minnesota.
But he soon discovered he was missing calls from people in Little Rock, where the area code is 501. When he'd give them his number, they assumed he misspoke or wrote it down wrong-that it must be 501 area code, not 507.
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It happened enough times, he said, that he finally gave in and changed it.
Some hold onto their area codes for sentimental reasons.
Garrett Boyer, a Carrington, N.D., native now in St. Paul, received his first cellphone from his parents as a high school graduation present. Even though he's lived in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and Minnesota since, he still has his original 701 number.
"Wouldn't trade it for anything," Boyer said. "It's just a simple reminder of my roots and where I came from."
Even spam calls from the 917 area code can leave Marie Jensen feeling nostalgic.
"I look and say 'Ah, New York is still calling,' " she laughed.
Sentiment, pride and identity set aside, hanging onto a number is just a matter of convenience to others like Sherri Danielson, a former North Dakota resident now living in Florida.
"Just because it would be a hassle to send new number to all my contacts," Danielson said.
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