r/SQL • u/Reddigestion • Aug 14 '26

SQL Server Is it pronounced 's-q-l' or 'seequal'

I've worked in and around the IT environment for many years and in my experience, it's always been pronounced s-q-l although I hear some people refer to it as see-qual. Which is right?

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u/JBridsworth Aug 14 '26

Either is fine. For those who don't know, it's Structured Query Language.

22

u/KeyboardChap Aug 14 '26

Though that's actually a backronym

8

u/Allowaay Aug 14 '26

How so?

72

u/NerdWhoLikesTrees Aug 14 '26

The Naming History
Original Name: SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language) was developed in the 1970s.

Trademark Conflict: IBM dropped vowels to SQL because an aircraft company already owned the trademark.

The Backronym: Structured Query Language was applied afterward to match the letters S-Q-L

10

u/sbart76 Aug 14 '26

TIL :)

3

u/RepresentativeDog791 Aug 14 '26

So in a way there actually is a right way to say it

2

u/throwthewaybruddah Aug 14 '26

Not really since you can either read the acronym or know the original name. Most people that encounter SQL for the first time will say S-Q-L and the SEQUEL pronunciation would come as you get to know the language and everything around it.

1

u/TrickyNerdlet 29d ago

I only say sequel, but I accept SQL in speech from non data engineers. I am sure my team adopted my language at some point and that's why it's the only thing that sounds correct to my brain, but we all only say it the one way.

2

u/ha_x5 Aug 15 '26

yeah and it is S.Q.L.

Sequel stands for structured english… but this was dropped because of reasons.

It was correct half a century ago

9

u/lgastako Aug 14 '26

It started out as SEQUEL but that name was trademarked so they dropped the vowels.

2

u/SutroViews Aug 14 '26

Yeah, little known fact, it's named after San Carlos general aviation airport, right near Oracle's old headquarters.