In 1924 Jabbar Baghcheban created a manual system that employed the phonetic characteristics of spoken Persian and Perso-Arabic orthography for use in the education of deaf students (Ibrahimi 2007). This article is a first exploration of variation and change in this system as it has evolved into the Iranian manual alphabet. Data on the articulation of individual letter forms were collected from forty-five deaf signers representing all thirty-one provinces of Iran. The three principle findings are as follows: First, regional variation occurs in the production of the Baghcheban manual alphabet (BMA); second, the marking of phonetic distinctions has declined, whereas the marking of orthographic distinctions has expanded; third, the trend toward making similar letters more dissimilar (in order to facilitate production) is increasing. Information on changes in this system will help meet the growing interest in learning Iranian Sign Language, Zaban Eshare Irani (ZEI), among hearing and deaf people. Moreover, the documenting of variations will likely enhance communication among deaf individuals in different regions. Research on communication in the Iranian Deaf community will also help raise the status of the community and improve deaf people's education.