18/07/2025
The real name for a hashtag is an octothorpe.
Yes, that's correct. The hashtag symbol ( #) is officially known as an octothorpe.
It's gone by many names throughout history, including the pound sign, number sign, and hash mark. While "hashtag" is the term commonly used today, particularly in the context of social media, "octothorpe" is its official name. The term "octothorpe" was coined in the 1960s by engineers at Bell Labs when they were developing touch-tone dialing systems.
The "octo-" prefix refers to the eight points on the symbol, while the origin of the "-thorpe" part is less clear and subject to some debate
