# What the hell does "eBay" mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-ebay-mean/48203>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 3, 2001, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-ebay-mean/48203 "2001-01-03T05:04:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mellonhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19adc/32.png) [@mellonhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mellonhead)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-ebay-mean/48203/1 "2001-01-03T05:04:31Z")

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Did they choose the name because it means something specific to the founder?

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**Author:** ![zigaretten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/91b2a8/32.png) [@zigaretten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zigaretten)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-ebay-mean/48203/2 "2001-01-03T05:21:45Z")

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eBay started as regional service in the SF Bay area (actually out of San Jose) and then it grew and grew and grew and…

It stands for Electronic Bay.

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**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-ebay-mean/48203/3 "2001-01-03T13:34:27Z")

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I believe it is true that eBay stands for “Electronic Bay,” but I don’t believe it’s because they’re near the SF Bay. Rather, I imagine it’s because “bays” are where auctions often take place. Hence “eBay” (they were ahead of the curve, before everyone attached “e” to every word imaginable).

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**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-ebay-mean/48203/4 "2001-01-03T14:51:55Z")

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WAG  
Different parts of the server?  
a-bay  
b-bay  
The part that they (eBay) are on was called e-bay  
Just a WAG

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**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-ebay-mean/48203/5 "2001-01-03T15:06:13Z")

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it’s “Be” in pig Latin. Maybe they use BeOS. 😃

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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:** [January 3, 2001, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-ebay-mean/48203/6 "2001-01-03T16:35:27Z")

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Yes, but if it were electonic bay, it would be Ebay. However, check their site, its written as ‘ebay’, small ‘e’.

I think that it means East Bay, because its the east part of the bay, but hey, that’s just my creativity at work.

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**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-ebay-mean/48203/7 "2001-01-03T17:28:50Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by handy \*  
> **Yes, but if it were electonic bay, it would be Ebay. However, check their site, its written as ‘ebay’, small ‘e’.**

Lowercase “e” is very frequenty used to represent “electronic” as in “e-zine” and “e-commerce”. The “e” need not be capitalized.

> [@](#):
>
> \*\*I think that it means East Bay

\*\*  
Then how did [eToys](http://www.etoys.com) get its name? From eastern toys?