From Wikipedia
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification[4] produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards.[5]
What are the historical reasons for calling the shorthand XML rather then the more natural EML?
I took a very pleasant tour through W3C, Google, and Wikipedia and finally found the answer: an annotated XML spec where we find an excerpt of an email from the inventor of the name, James Clark, an email from chairman Jon Bosak who suggested to use the X letter, and some other ideas for names and the final votes:
Votes | Acronym | Full Name
------+---------+--------------------
5 | XML | Extensible Markup Language
4 | MAGMA | Minimal Architecture for Generalized Markup Applications
3 | SLIM | Structured Language for Internet Markup
1 | MGML | Minimal Generalized Markup Language
This is Jon Bosak's reply to James Clark's suggestion to name it "Extensible Markup Language" and gave birth to the acronym:
In my opinion, the U-combinations won't fly, but if we allow "X" to stand for "extensible", then I could live with (and even come to love) XML as an acronym for "extensible markup language", and I hereby now throw it into the list of current proposals.
(Emphasis mine)
Some bonus - from some old reports of the XML Special Interest Group that I found while looking for some original quote that could answer the question:
M.15 Should the spec refer to XML as "The Extensible Markup Language" or as "Extensible Markup Language" without a definite article (e.g. in the first sentence)?
The WG elected to give no guidance to the editors on this issue (in the full expectation that the result would depend on which editor touched the file last).
Rationale: after several minutes' discussion and increasing hilarity, no consensus had been reached, but the end of the allotted time for the conference call had.
Because "X" is just so much cooler than "E".
Also presumably to avoid confusion with things like Extensible ML.
From the book Computers & Society
The X in XML
"XML is both a boon and a threat to the web dream."
The X in XML stands for eXtensible. This signifies that XML is open. It is open in the sense that it allows growth. Note that the abbreviation is XML and not EML. There is something daring, attractive, exciting about that X. X stands for many things, depending on the culture of the society in which it appears! The two most obvious things denoted are
- X-rated stuff: films, books... intended for adults only!
- X-roads: where choices in direction can be made.
Since the X in XML is pronounced "ex" and may sometimes even be written that way, then we have an opportunity of charting other potential meanings. For example, to say that "she is his ex" implies something in the past. This is not the intention of the X in XML. But we can make it so. We can think of XML poetically as X-ML to refer to the SGML that preceded it.
And we can use exactly the same interpretation for XHTML.
This is a question that maybe is better asked on http://english.stackexchange.com, generally, the english speaking world tends to use the X creatively, like X as 'cross' as in X-ing. In this case, it seems, 'X' represents the first Syllable ('eeeks'), not the first letter.
Speculating on the answer given by Andreas_D:
but if we allow "X" to stand for "extensible"
Notice that it seems like there's a bit of reverse engineering of the acronym here... we've got an X, what should it stand for??
It strikes me that eXtreme sports, the X games, etc were all very popular around 1995 and that the X in XML is probably a play towards that. Maybe someone hoped for eXtreme Markup Language?
I've always thought of the X in XML as indicating that you can make any kind of markup language you want with XML. Back when it was new, that was one of the biggest things everyone talked about.
X is pronounced ex, and it's fairly common in acronyms to use X for words starting with ex-.
This would be better asked on English.SE
