#The official name of the symbol located at the bottom right hand corner of phone keypads or as the 'shift' of the number three (3) key on keyboards is the OCTOTHORPE. Also called a hash or a pound sign, the symbol has roots in 14th century Latin.
According to one origin story of the '#' symbol, people began abbreviating the Latin term for "pound weight" (libra pondo) as lb. At the time, it was common to add a horizontal bar to abbreviations, known as a tittle, to show that the two letters were connected, and to indicate that the letter 'l' (ell) was not the number "1" (one).
As scribes started writing this sign faster and faster, lb began to morph into the tic-tac-toe-board shape we know today. A handwritten manuscript from Sir Isaac Newton shows a middle point in the process: instead of lifting his pen before drawing the tittle, he messily looped the letters together, forming an early version of the '#' symbol.
AT&T added the symbol and the asterisk to telephones in order to make the keypad a neat square. At that time, the # still didn't have an official name. Unsure what to call it in the user's manual, employees at Bell Labs made up the name 'octotherp,' which eventually became the octothorpe.
The '#' symbol is presently used to label hashtags - meant to denote importance or locate information - on most social media platforms, the most widely recognized one being Twitter.
[Information gathered/summarized from Mental Floss (www.mentalfloss.com)]


Image from www.marketingmag.com.au

You need to login or register to write reviews. It's quick! We only ask four questions to new members.