Why is English Alphabet divided A to K/L to Z when *M* is halfway through? Not only phonebooks.?

Question

The English alphabet is often divided into two sections: A to K and L to Z. However, since M is the 13th letter, it is technically halfway through the alphabet. Wouldn't it make more sense to divide it into A to M and N to Z? The A to K / L to Z division is not limited to phonebooks—this applies to both residential (white pages) and business (yellow pages) listings. Even seemingly random resources, like this proverbs page, use the A to K division: http://www.learn-english-today.com/Proverbs/prover… 
Is the division simply because the letters W, X, Y, and Z do not contribute significantly to the overall count? Additionally, when considering non-Anglo surnames in phonebooks, there must be a considerable number of entries starting with X and Z. Is this division merely a quirky historical relic, much like the phonebook itself, which is becoming less relevant? I’m asking here because I haven’t found satisfactory answers through Google. Does anyone have insights on this?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Its because some letters (T, B, P) ahve a lot more entries than others (X, Y, Z), so it balences out the sections.
This means that their is about an equal amoutn in each section
Sophie
♥x♥

Anonymous · Answer

Half The Alphabet

Henderson Durgan · Answer

coz the no. of words in A to K/L = no. of words K/L to Z
after all how many words are there which start with say x,y,z.
EDIT: exactly. ur quite right.

Prof. Nia Walsh

Why is English Alphabet divided A to K/L to Z when M is halfway through? Not only phonebooks.?

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