Does anyone know if there is an official name for the "A IN A CIRCLE" the @ sign????????

Answer 1

It is the "at" symbol.

Answer 2

Sorry you've been abused by people who didn't read your question. Hope this adds a bit more info:

“In English the name of the sign seems to be most commonly given as at or, more fully, commercial at, which is the official name given to it in the international standard character sets. Other names include whirlpool (from its use in the joke computer language INTERCAL) and fetch (from FORTH), but these are much less common. A couple of the international names have come over into English: snail is fairly frequently used; more surprisingly, so is snabel from Danish.”
Source: www.worldwidewords.org/articles/whereat.htm

When I was typesetting in the Dark Ages, some people called it an ‘amphora’, but most of us stuck to ‘the at sign’ or ‘commercial at’.
It’s interesting that English hasn’t got a name for the symbol. I think we should start a competition.

Answer 3

Please ignore the people who are rude about the fact that you have asked this question. Everyone has a point in their life where they are new to computers or the internet, and even if you are familiar with computers and the internet, it is still a valid question. In the world of the internet, as others have mentioned, @ means 'at'. Long before we had the internet, those of us who worked in business or in purchasing used this @ symbol to mean 'commercial at' or 'each'. For example, it was commonplace to see something like this:

3 fuses @ $1.00 each = $3.00

Now, of course it is most often used to indicate a domain where an email address is located.

Answer 4

My God you answerers are a bunch of self righteous, sanctimonious gits. The girl asked a simple enough question, if the sign had another official name. Just because someone does not know something does not mean they are thick - just ignorant of that fact until they learn it. Or I supppose you were all born with that knowledge as well as being able to recite pi to 250 places and know the Periodic Table off by heart.

I would put money however on those of you who called her thick that you genuinely really are stupid. Tossers the lot of you.

Joanne - as the idiots have said it genuinely is just known as the 'at' symbol - or also in the ANSI unicode standards it is actually officially called the 'Commercial At' - how come none of the genesius told you that. It was in use before email etc came about. Sorry you got abused for asking a reasonable question.

Answer 5

It comes from shorthand - the shorthand for writing "at".

Short hand is not used as much as it was in the days of pre-office automation. But most secretaties learned and used shorthand. There are several types, Pittman being the only I can think of at the moment.

It was on the typewriter keys long before computers and email were around.

Answer 6

It does not make you thick to ask that question.

The at sign (@, read aloud in English as "at") is a typographic symbol used as an abbreviation for "at" in accounting and commercial invoices, in statements such as "7 widgets @ $2 ea. = $14". More recently, the at symbol has become ubiquitous due to its use in email addresses.

It is often referred to informally as the at symbol, the at sign, or just at.

In French Spanish and Portugese the 'at sign is known as 'Arroba

Answer 7

The people who have answered in terms of your being a "thicko" or dumb (and the moron who accused you of that couldn't even spell the word!) should perhaps learn some manners as well as the ability to read a question properly. While @ stands for "at" in almost all modern communications that is not its official name, which is "Commercial at".

Answer 8

It's called 'The Commercial 'at'' and is used, or was originally by barrow boys in London markets to show prices like 'Potatoes @ 10d a pound.' and similar things like plates @ 10s 00d each os in US potatoes @$1 a pound

Answer 9

Officially called ;commercial at' - hope this helps. Wouldn't it be great if we were all as clever as the other answers - smart ars*s.

Answer 10

It has many names depending on the country in which it is being used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%40

In the UK it is generally referred to as the 'at' symbol or 'at' sign.

Answer 11

So you know by now that it means "at". Here is something fun for you, though - the Dutch call the @ symbol an "aapstaartje", which means monkey-tail! I guess it does look like one!