# The Meaning of eBay

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 6, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892 "2003-09-06T05:29:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892/1 "2003-09-06T05:29:57Z")

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Does anybody know how eBay came up with its name? It other words, what does the name mean???

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892/2 "2003-09-06T05:47:02Z")

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It was originally intended to serve the San Francisco Bay Area, thus “Bay” with an “e” in front of it.

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892/3 "2003-09-06T06:12:10Z")

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[History of eBay](http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/p/l/pls146/history.html)

The “e” is in imitation of the “e” in “e-mail” (for “electronic”).

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892/4 "2003-09-06T06:13:52Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> In the beginning [eBay.com](http://eBay.com), Omidyar’s personal website contained three things: information about Ebola, a small biotech start-up for his fiancée, and AuctionWeb. The domain, [eBay.com](http://eBay.com), stood for Echo Bay a whimsical name that Omidyar had come up with but that was in use by a Canadian Mining Company, so settling for the next best thing Omidyar came up with eBay.

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892/5 "2003-09-06T14:56:01Z")

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“The “e” is in imitation of the “e” in “e-mail” (for “electronic”).”

Then would it not be a big E. e.g. Email= Electronic mail. ?

Funny thing about ebay is that sometimes it has a big E & sometimes it has a big B.

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**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892/6 "2003-09-06T15:25:07Z")

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Big bees scare me.

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**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892/7 "2003-09-06T15:37:45Z")

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Wasn’t it Thelma’s African boyfriends name on Good Times?

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892/8 "2003-09-06T17:47:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by handy \*  
> **Then would it not be a big E. e.g. Email= Electronic mail. ?**

Who spells e-mail with a capital “E”? (Except at the beginning of a sentence.)

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892/9 "2003-09-06T22:12:17Z")

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" Who spells e-mail with a capital “E”? (Except at the beginning of a sentence.)"

Merriam Webster.

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892/10 "2003-09-07T00:07:26Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by NoClueBoy \*  
> \*\*Big bees scare me. \*\*

ixNay on the igBay eBays!

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**Author:** ![doctordoowop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@doctordoowop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doctordoowop)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-meaning-of-ebay/199892/11 "2003-09-07T02:18:50Z")

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In San Jose near the East Bay.