The Secret Names Of Symbols: 7 Punctuation Marks You’ve Been Calling By The Wrong Name

Every day, you use symbols on your keyboard and in your writing that have fascinating, obscure histories and completely different names than what you call them. As of late 2025, the digital world continues to evolve, but the core building blocks of our language—these typographical symbols—remain constant, often hiding their true identities in plain sight.

The generic search query "what is this symbol called" is one of the most common questions online, revealing a widespread curiosity about the true names of marks like the hashtag, the paragraph sign, or the mysterious combination of a question mark and an exclamation point. Prepare to update your vocabulary and gain a new appreciation for the hidden language of typography.

The Obscure Punctuation That Answers Your Curiosity

While most people can correctly identify a period or a comma, the symbols that live on the fringes of the keyboard or in specialised documents often have names rooted in Latin, Old English, or even 1960s advertising. These little-known entities are the key to unlocking a deeper understanding of textual communication.

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1. The Interrobang (‽): The Mark of Incredulity

The Interrobang (‽) is arguably the most intriguing symbol on this list, as it is a single character designed to convey both a question and an exclamation—in other words, a moment of profound surprise or incredulity. Think of a sentence like, "You won the lottery‽"

• The Name: The name is a mash-up of two words: "interrogatio" (Latin for "a question" or "interrogation") and "bang," which is printer's slang for the exclamation mark (!).
• The History: The Interrobang was invented and named in 1962 by Martin K. Speckter, an advertising executive. Speckter proposed the new character in his magazine article "Making a New Point," believing a single mark would save space and clearly indicate an astonished tone in advertising copy.
• Modern Status: Although it briefly gained traction in the 1960s and 70s, even appearing on some Remington typewriters, it remains an obscure punctuation mark today, often replaced by the two-character sequence: ?! or !?.

2. The Octothorpe (#): More Than Just a Hashtag

The symbol we now universally call the "hashtag" or, in North America, the "pound sign," has a much more formal and technical name that predates social media by decades: the Octothorpe (#).

• The Name: The term Octothorpe is widely attributed to engineers at Bell Laboratories in the early 1960s. The "octo-" prefix refers to the eight points or lines around the center of the symbol.
• The History: It was adopted by the telecommunications industry with the advent of touch-tone dialing in the 1960s, where it served as one of the two non-number function symbols on the keypad.
• Modern Use: Its most current, ubiquitous use is the "hashtag" on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, where it is used to tag keywords and topics. Historically, it was also used to abbreviate the Latin term libra pondo, or "pound by weight."

Legal, Literary, and Lexicographical Symbols

Beyond the common keyboard symbols, there are marks used in academic, legal, and literary contexts that are essential for referencing and structuring complex texts. These entities are often seen but rarely named correctly.

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3. The Pilcrow (¶): The Hidden Paragraph Marker

The symbol that looks like a backward 'P' with two vertical lines (¶) is a crucial, yet almost invisible, part of document processing. While it is often called the "paragraph sign" or "paragraph mark," its true, historical name is the Pilcrow.

• The Name: The word Pilcrow is a corruption of the Old French word pelagraphe, which itself evolved from the Greek word paragraphos (meaning "to write beside").
• The History: It was originally used in ancient manuscripts to mark a new paragraph or section, long before modern indentation was common. Scribes would often draw it in red ink.
• Modern Use: Today, the Pilcrow is primarily used in word processing software (like Microsoft Word) as a non-printing character to show where a paragraph break has been inserted. It is a vital tool for proofreading and formatting.

4. The Section Sign (§): The Mark of Law

If you have ever read a legal document, a statute, or an academic paper, you have seen this double-S looking symbol. It is almost exclusively used for referencing specific parts of a text.

• The Name: This symbol is formally called the Section Sign, or sometimes the Section Mark. Less common but still valid names include the "double-s" or "silcrow."
• The Use: Its primary function is to refer to a specific, numbered section of a document, such as a law, a code, or a book chapter. The plural form, referring to multiple sections, is created by doubling the symbol: §§.
• Confusion: In some European languages, such as German, the Section Sign is sometimes referred to as the "paragraph symbol," which can lead to confusion with the Pilcrow (¶) in English-speaking contexts.

The Most Obscure Typographical Entities

These two symbols are so rare that you may have never encountered them outside of classic literature or advanced typesetting. Their existence highlights the vast, underappreciated world of typographical nuance.

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5. The Asterism (⁂): The Starry Divider

The Asterism (⁂) is a beautiful, yet almost extinct, typographical symbol that looks like three asterisks arranged in a triangle.

• The Name: The name "Asterism" comes from the Greek word asterismos, meaning a constellation or a star pattern.
• The Use: This symbol's original purpose was to mark a minor break in the text, to signal a shift in thought, a sub-chapter, or to draw attention to a block of text. In modern writing, it has been largely replaced by three asterisks in a row (***) or simply extra line breaks.
• Rarity: The Asterism predates most modern punctuation and is now considered a very rare typographical symbol, making its identification a true mark of a language expert.

6. The Tilde (~): The Wavy Line of Approximation

The Tilde (~) is a character that sits on your keyboard but is often only used in mathematics or coding, leading to its name being forgotten by the general public.

• The Name: The word "Tilde" comes from the Spanish word tilde, which itself is derived from the Latin word titulus, meaning "a small mark or inscription."
• The Use: In modern English, the Tilde is most commonly used to mean "approximately" or "about," such as in the phrase "~100 pages." In computer science, it is often used to represent a user's home directory. In Spanish and Portuguese, it is a diacritical mark placed over a letter (like the 'ñ' in señor) to indicate a particular pronunciation.

7. The Manicule (☞): The Forgotten Pointer

While not a keyboard character, the Manicule (☞), also known as the index or printer's fist, is a symbol that has seen a resurgence in digital design and is a fascinating piece of history.

• The Name: Manicule literally means "little hand" (from the Latin manicula).
• The History: Originating in the medieval period, the Manicule was drawn by readers in the margins of books to point out passages of importance. It was the original "highlight" feature.
• Modern Use: Though rare in print, the Manicule has been adopted as a modern emoji and web design element to draw a user's attention to a specific piece of information or a call-to-action button, continuing its ancient function in a new digital context.

Why Knowing the Real Names Matters

Understanding the proper names for these typographical symbols—from the Interrobang to the Pilcrow—is more than just a trivia game; it’s about acknowledging the precision and history embedded in our written language. Each symbol, whether the technical Octothorpe or the legal Section Sign, serves a unique, specific purpose that cannot be fully appreciated when simply called "that squiggly line" or "the pound sign." By using their correct names, you gain topical authority, improve the clarity of technical communication, and connect with centuries of literary tradition.

The next time you type a hashtag or see a mysterious double-S in a document, you can confidently call it by its true name—the Octothorpe or the Section Sign—and appreciate the rich history contained within a single character.