Why Do We Say ‘Hello’ When We Answer the Phone?

When you pick up the phone, you probably say “hello.” But have you ever stopped to ask yourself, “Why this word?” The greeting is a relatively recent phenomenon, having been coined less than 200 years ago. It gained popularity in the latter half of the 19th century, and its rise can be tied to a widely respected American figure. Here’s a look at the origins of “hello” and some alternatives for answering the phone that fell by the wayside.

“Hello” was in use as a greeting by 1834, but it had an earlier usage as an expression of surprise. For instance, if a stray cat crept up behind someone, they may have said, “Hello! Where did you come from?” This usage was an alteration derived from a number of similar words, including “hallo,” “holla,” and “hollo,” which had been used since the late 14th century as shouts intended to attract attention.

The evolution of the word continued into the late 19th century. On March 7, 1876, inventor Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone. Initially, Bell proposed a different word for answering the phone: “ahoy,” from the Dutch hoi, meaning “hello.” Until then, “ahoy” had primarily been used in nautical contexts as a means of hailing ships, but Bell felt it would also make the perfect greeting for his new invention. However, another famous inventor disagreed.

On August 15, 1877, Thomas Edison wrote a letter to T.B.A. David, the president of the Central District and Printing Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh. In the letter, Edison proposed using “hello” as a telephone greeting: “Friend David, I don’t think we shall need a call bell as Hello! can be heard 10 to 20 feet away. What do you think?” This began a bit of a proxy war between Edison and Bell and their suggestions, as budding telephone companies were left to decide which greeting to recommend to customers.

People tended to side with Edison right off the bat, with many phone companies including the word “hello” in telephone instruction manuals. However, there were a few related alternatives. For instance, in 1878, the District Telephone Company of New Haven, Connecticut, published the first phone book, in which they advised starting conversations with “a firm and cheery hulloa.” Bell continued to use “ahoy” his entire life, but by the 1880s, English speakers had coalesced around Edison’s suggestion of the word “hello,” and the rest is history.