In 1940, the OA, which had previously been divided into Areas 1 - 15 in 1938 was changed again. This time they used letters A - O. Each area was basically assigned the letter that corresponded with the number previously assigned (i.e. Area 1 became Area A, Area 2 became Area B, and so on). As new lodges were added to an area, if they became too large, then a new lettered area was added. In December, 1942 letters A – U were assigned in BSA Region order. Region 1 was assigned the letter “A”; Region 2 was assigned letters “B”, “C” and “D” and so on until Region 12 received Area “U”.

As the OA spread from council to council, certain regions saw greater growth. In March 1944 three more areas were added. Lodges in the regions that had new areas added were always re-allocated. In July 1945 two more Areas were added, “Y” and “Z”. In August of 1946 they were out of letters. Area’s A – Z remained the same except for Region 12’s Area “U”. Area “U” was divided into Areas 12A, 12B and 12C, a forerunner of further changes.