I have always called SQL, S Q L.
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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(2 replies)
That's bad logic, obviously if SQL is "sequel" then DNS is "denues."
SQL is pronounced 'Sequel' because it was originaly SEQUEL.
SQL was initially developed at IBM by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce after learning about the relational model from Edgar F. Codd[12] in the early 1970s.[13] This version, initially called SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language), was designed to manipulate and retrieve data stored in IBM's original quasirelational database management system, System R, which a group at IBM San Jose Research Laboratory had developed during the 1970s.[13]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL
It then later evolved, and changed from being an acronym into an initialism, kind of, sort of, mostly for people who are unaware of the etymology.
'Sequel' is quite literally the tradtional way to pronounce it.
DNS is pronounced 'hosts' because it was originally one big text file.
TIL, thank you. Still not gonna say it like that.
Came here to make this comment. So by the same logic, DNS or Domain Name System should have been abbreviated to DoNaS and pronounced dou-NAS.
That would explain why it's only American to I've ever heard referred to it like that. Every European developer I've ever heard referred to it as always called it SQL as would I.
Other DNS is definitely Dennis from now on.
I too am going to call DNS 'Dennis' from now on, lol.
Yeah I've had some discussions over time with the whole SQL vs Sequel thing, and what I realized was that...
Well basically, I learned 'Sequel' from a bunch of old timers in the Seattle area.
The kind of people who had been writing COBOL since they got back from Vietnam, people who'd actually worked at IBM, still acted like Microsoft was an 'upstart', people who'd just offhand tell me about the one time they got 'deployed' to Saudi Arabia to flash a compromised BIOS onto hardware destined to be used in Saddam's air defense network, prior to the Gulf War.
So, they actually literally were there back when SEQUEL was invented.
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(4 replies)
Yeah except this name was already taken and then it became SQL, dropping the English.
Even the start of your wiki says:
Structured Query Language (SQL) (pronounced /ˌɛsˌkjuˈɛl/ S-Q-L; or alternatively as /ˈsiːkwəl/ ⓘ
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(3 replies)
enjinx
Somewhere I heard that it should be pronounced as "Engine X"
On their own homepage? still won't stop me tho
Jurassic Park (InGen) ruined any possibility of me ever pronouncing this the way they want it to be. It'll always be In-Gen-Icks out of my lips, like it's a pharmaceutical company.
In Gen X we trust
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JSON is pronounced Jason
SCSI was always skuzzy.
Ah, I see, you're a person of culture and distinguished taste.
I feel like this one is relatively uncontroversial
URL pronounced as "earl" however? I'll spend all of my remaining energy in life ensuring the person saying it is stapled to the bottom of the Mariana trench with rebar
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(11 replies)
You know maybe some acronyms just sound good pronounced as words and some just don't, ever think of that?
I had a coworker pronounce URL as Earl.
Want some URL Grey tea?
I like to pronounce them like squeal and dunes.
The original product was called SEQUEL. Structured English QUEry Language. They got sued over the name by a company named Sequel, so changed it to SQL but kept calling it sequel, as do we all.
Except me who call it Es-Queue-El as language intended.
/Old mans rant off
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It’s not sequel. It’s squirrel.
Skill. Then you can reply to any database problems your coworkers bring up with "sounds like a skill issue to me".
Confusing because there is a DB client called SQuirreL.
But also relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1989/
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denise
Don't you mean, DEE-niss? 8====D <------ There. It's right there.
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