# Battery names **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 20, 2003, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-names/149779 "2003-01-20T11:07:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![King\_Friday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@King\_Friday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Friday)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-names/149779/1 "2003-01-20T11:07:12Z")
Why AA, AAA, C, D? These are easily the most common 1.5 volt battery sizes, but why the strange letters? Where’s A? And B? Was there an A and a B but were phased out by the C but the A was replaced by AA but then needed another size between AA and C but B was already used so they went with AAA? Anyone follow that? This is the result of working 3rd shift… ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-names/149779/2 "2003-01-20T11:22:58Z")
Some info from the Master: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4\_005b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_005b.html) ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-names/149779/3 "2003-01-20T13:58:28Z")
To add slightly to the confusion: In battery powered tube electronics, the battery that is used to power the tubes filament is referred to as the A battery while the one used to supply plate voltage is the B battery. This convention disregards the physical size and voltage of the various batterys actually used. So someone talking about tube circuits might refer to the B battery, but it’s not a B Sized cell. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-names/149779/4 "2003-01-20T16:25:07Z")
I dug up some stuff on the size of the “B” cell, and the “A”, “B” and “C” cell conventions for old radios in a previous thread: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=116827](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=116827) The B cell battery: [http://exn.ca/Stories/1998/06/16/51.asp](http://exn.ca/Stories/1998/06/16/51.asp) ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-names/149779/5 "2003-01-20T18:04:11Z")
Off to Comments on Cecil’s Columns. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-names/149779/6 "2003-01-23T05:09:05Z")
Clarification: the AAA battery is _smaller_ than the AA battery. The more A’s, the smaller the battery.