Wait, It’s Called What

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Strange Names for Symbols We Use Every Day

You tap them - You type them - You scribble them on sticky notes and fumble them into passwords. But did you know many of these everyday symbols have official names that sound like a spelling bee gone rogue?

Let’s break down the wild, weird, and wonderful names behind the symbols we know—and mostly misunderstand.

1 - # – Octothorpe

You know it as a hashtag or pound sign, but this little grid has a backstory worthy of a Netflix documentary.

🧐The real name - Octothorpe

"Octo" = eight points.

"Thorpe" = Nobody agrees - Some say it was added as a joke by Bell Labs employees in the 1960s. Legend has it they named it after an Olympic athlete, Jim Thorpe. Others claim it was just a made-up suffix to make it sound cooler.

Once used to signify numbers (e.g., #2 = number two), it later moonwalked into the 21st century as a social media superstar.

💬Common uses:

#ThrowbackThursday - #WhyIsThisSymbolSoComplicated

2 - @ – At Sign

You call it the at sign - But once upon a time, it was just an accounting shortcut.

🧐The real name - Commercial at

Used since at least the 16th century by merchants to mean “at the rate of.” For example:

“12 widgets @ $1 = $12.”

Then came email and the @ became the digital postman of the internet - bob@something.com.

💬Common uses - Emails - Tagging people who really didn’t ask to be tagged

3 - & – Ampersand

Looks like a curly "E" that partied too hard - But it’s older than the alphabet - Seriously.

🧐The real name - Ampersand

This symbol is a mashup of “et” — Latin for “and” — and evolved into the swirly scribble we know today.

The name ampersand comes from schoolchildren in the 1800s reciting the alphabet, which used to end with - 

“…X, Y, Z, and per se and.”

Which translates to - “and, by itself, ‘and’.”

Try saying that five times fast - The kids slurred it into “ampersand” and boom—history.

💬Common uses - Company names trying to sound fancier - Overuse in wedding invitations - "Tom & Jane"

4 - * – Asterisk

No, it’s not a snowflake. And no, it’s not pronounced "ass-trick."

🧐 The real name - Asterisk

From the Greek asteriskos, meaning “little star.”

Used in writing to show footnotes, corrections, or to bleep out words when you're being polite but still a little salty.

💬Common uses:

"*Terms and conditions apply" (which nobody ever reads)

"*#&!%!" (when the Wi-Fi cuts out)

5 - () – Parentheses

You thought they were just brackets for nerds? Think again.

🧐The real name - Parentheses

From the Greek para (beside) and thesis (placing), parentheses are like verbal side streets — letting you sneak in extra info totally without derailing the sentence.

They’re the punctuation equivalent of whispering in someone’s ear during a conversation.

💬Common uses:

Clarifying something mid-sentence (without being annoying, hopefully).

Example - Bob (yes, that Bob) fixed it again.

Adding jokes, sarcasm, or random thoughts that probably didn’t need to be there but made it anyway.

🤓Fun fact:

The plural is parentheses, but the individual marks are called a parenthesis (just one).

So yes, you can technically say: “I lost a parenthesis today” - (And someone might call you dramatic.)

6 - ^ – Caret

Nope, it's not a hat - And definitely not a carrot.

🧐The real name - Caret

From the Latin caret, meaning "it is lacking."

Editors used it to show where something was missing in a line of text.

Coders now use it for logical operations or to signify "power of" (like 2^3 = 8).

Also used by people who think they're shouting without using CAPS.

💬Common uses:

Math - Accidental emoji eyebrows - ^_^

7 - / and \ – Slash and Backslash

Meet the punctuation twins who still cause confusion on keyboards everywhere.

🧐The real names - / = Slash or Forward Slash - \ = Backslash

The backslash was invented for early computer systems, particularly Microsoft’s file paths (e.g., C:\Windows).

Meanwhile, the forward slash is your everyday internet buddy in URLs.

💬 Common uses:

Breaking up dates (11/05/2025) - Confusing everyone when reading file paths out loud

8 - § – Section Sign

Looks like a snake doing yoga. Or two S’s spooning.

🧐The real name - Section sign or Silcrow

Used mostly in legal documents to refer to a particular section (§42).

Most people see it and think, “Oh, that’s fancy - I must owe someone money.”

💬Common uses:

Laws and contracts - Documents you pretend to read before clicking “I agree”

9 - ¶ – Pilcrow

Looks like the ghost of the letter P - You’ve seen it in Word documents and wondered, “Did I break something?”

🧐The real name - Pilcrow

Used to indicate a new paragraph. It’s a relic from medieval scribes who needed to show breaks in long texts.

Most of us turn it off immediately in Microsoft Word because it makes documents look like they’ve caught a virus.

10 - ! – Exclamation Point

The drama queen of punctuation.

🧐The real name - Exclamation point (boring, right?)

Originally used to show admiration, joy, or astonishment.

The symbol is thought to have come from the Latin word io, meaning "joy."

Fun fact - It used to be called a “bang” - Programmers still call it that when writing code.

💬Common uses:

"Let’s go!" - "We’re out of coffee!" - "Grandma joined TikTok!"

🎉Symbols Deserve a Little Respect:

From octothorpes to pilcrows, our keyboards are littered with symbols that carry centuries of evolution, a dash of chaos, and sometimes a splash of sarcasm. You might not use "§" every day, but knowing it’s called a silcrow makes you officially the most interesting person at the printer station.

So next time you type a hashtag or fix a typo, remember - you’re not just typing. You’re wielding the quirky history of written language—and that, my friend, deserves an asterisk of honor*.

(AI was used to aid in the creation of this article.)

“Thanks for tuning in — now go hit that subscribe button and stay curious, my friends!👋”