# What is @ called??
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 14, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339 "2003-10-14T07:50:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/1 "2003-10-14T07:50:38Z")
Here’s a silly question. What’s the name of this @? I’ve heard “at symbol” but that can’t be the official name. So if # is a number sign and % is a percentage mark what is @??😛
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### Author:  [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/2 "2003-10-14T07:55:31Z")
“at symbol” or “commercial at”
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### Author:  [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/3 "2003-10-14T07:58:46Z")
I still think it’s funny that somebody somewhere decided we needed an abbreviation for a 2-letter word.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/4 "2003-10-14T08:00:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by torie \*
> \*\*Here’s a silly question. What’s the name of this @? I’ve heard “at symbol” but that can’t be the official name. So if # is a number sign and % is a percentage mark what is @??😛 \*\*
@ = ‘At symbol’ or ‘Commercial at’
# = ‘Hash’, ‘Number sign’ or ‘Pound sign’ (the last one is never used in the UK, as ‘Pound sign’ is the name of our currency symbol.
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### Author:  [@fezpp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fezpp)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/5 "2003-10-14T09:16:14Z")
Slightly of topic but the # symbol originated in cartography to indicate a village. The little squares represent plots of land.
I can’t find a cite for this so it may be BS!
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### Author:  [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/6 "2003-10-14T11:35:57Z")
You’re thinking of one of the stories behind the name ‘octothorpe’ (‘thorpe’ being an old English word for village). Another explanation is that the symbol was named after Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe.
> **[World Wide Words: Octothorpe](http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-oct1.htm)**
>
> The story behind the Weird Word 'octothorpe'.
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/7 "2003-10-14T12:50:23Z")
My favorite wordsmith, the late Willard Espy, addressed the issue of what to call #; I won’t reproduce his clever poem here, but will list #'s many names:
number (#2 pencil)
pounds (10# bag)
space (editing symbol: insert #)
sharp (music: F#)
tic-tac-toe (duh)
octothorp (note alternate spelling; Espy says this is the name when it’s on a phone, but I would accept this as the overall correct name of the symbol, and Merriam-Webster agrees)
non-add (business; never ran across this one personally – can anyone enlighten?)
fracture (as in medicine: doctors?)
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### Author:  [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/8 "2003-10-14T13:44:22Z")
I have heard (though I can’t remember where) that it’s called an “ampersat.” Like ampers_and_ but it’s with an _at._
I don’t know if it’s the actually actual name of the symbol, but apparently the term is becoming more commonly accepted, according to a [google](http://www.kcsl.btinternet.co.uk/products.htm)[search](http://www.phpbuilder.com/mail/php-db/2000092/0174.php)
> [@](#):
>
> and the **ampersat** character in front of it (putting it all together would mean that it would be detected by automatic programs used
> [@](#):
>
> and also try passing a select without the **ampersat.** You may need a special escape to use it
(bolding mine)
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/9 "2003-10-14T14:05:37Z")
I always referred to the “@” as “commercial at” and read it as “at” when speaking it in, say, an E-mail address. In India, they read it as “at the rate of.” I always find it slightly amusing when an Indian tells me his or her E-mail address as “george at the rate of mailservice dot com.”
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/10 "2003-10-14T15:21:18Z")
Indeed, the & is a ligature of Et, which is Latin for and. It is called the ampersand because of this: `And *per se* and' means "`And’ which means `and’" in (what else?) Latin. After a couple centuries of trying to say that whole mess every time one named the ligature (which was considered more or less a fully-fledged letter at one time), people naturally shortened it to ampersand.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/11 "2003-10-14T16:05:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> & originally didn’t mean “et cetera”, but simply “et”
It still does just simply mean “et.” Or else it wouldn’t make sense in the names of so many commercial entities.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/12 "2003-10-14T17:04:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> non-add (business; never ran across this one personally – can anyone enlighten?)
In a column of figures to be added up, the non-add figure signifies that that particular number should not be included in the summary of the numbers. For example, you might enter the ID number of the store or the cash register at the top of the tape, but you don’t want that added to the sales total for that register or store.
The # indicates that it is neither added to nor subtrcted from the rest of the numbers. (Why it acquired the _name_ “non add” instead of simply _number sign_ (as in “cash register _number_”) you would have to take up with a historian of accounting.)
* * *
Other attempts to identify the name of the **@** have included:
[Name That Symbol](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=145448)
[Where it’s “@”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11905)
[@](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108966)
[How do you say @?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57699)
[Symbol names](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45525)
[ampersAT origin (@)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32917)
Several of which have external links to other discussions of language sources.
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### Author:  [@Zweistein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zweistein)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/13 "2003-10-14T17:23:23Z")
@ is called acroll, & is called ampersand
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### Author:  [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/14 "2003-10-14T18:12:02Z")
I have heard appersat.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/15 "2003-10-14T18:29:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> @ is called acroll
By whom? In what language?
I have never encounterd that word and I cannot find it in any of several English dictionaries. Potential variations such as “ascroll” and “atscroll” and “at scroll” also turned up nothing.
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### Author:  [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/16 "2003-10-14T19:15:37Z")
The @ symbol also goes by the name [_Klammeraffe_](http://home.t-online.de/home/Hanno_Kuehnert/klaffe.htm) among German-speaking people.
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/17 "2003-10-14T22:25:52Z")
I heard it’s called an ‘at’ sign but no dictionary I looked at has reference to it under ‘at’.
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/18 "2003-10-14T23:20:38Z")
Did it ever originally mean “around”?
@…an “a” with a circle around it.
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### Author:  [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2003, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/19 "2003-10-15T00:58:53Z")
It’s called masterspace.
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### Author:  [@Sm\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sm_e)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called/207339/20 "2003-10-15T05:48:06Z")
In Diku MUDS (message boards) it was used for a line break. So on message boards it wound up getting replaced with \ (i.e. me\my.house). It took me years before I wrote out my email address with an @.
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