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Why the name 8e6? PDF Print E-mail
You might be wondering how the name "8e6" came about. It's fairly well-known that "eighty-six" is commonly used as a verb meaning "get rid of." That's what we do with inappropriate Web content; we get rid of it. Hence the fit with our company. The lower-case "e" was added to distinguish our name from the pure number and to give a more high-tech look to it.

But how did the number 86 acquire that new meaning? Why wasn't it 37 or 94? No one knows for sure exactly how "eighty-six" took on this meaning and there are no shortage of stories about how the meaning came about. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests it may have been rhyming slang for nix, which seems reasonable. Another standard story about the origin of the expression connects it to a New York City speakeasy, Chumley's, located at 86 Bedford Street. During Prohibition, when a raid was imminent, a cop on the take would call and warn the proprietor to 'eighty-six it': hide the booze and get the customers out.

There are a number of other theories about the origination of this phrase. For example:

  • In the heyday of the British Merchant Marine the standard crew was 85, so that the 86th didn't get to go
  • 86 was the number of the California (or Florida) law that forbade bartenders to serve the overly intoxicated
  • It refers to the number of tables (85) at the New York restaurant 21, and the table 86, (in other words, no table) is what the undesirables got.

So while no one is really sure where or how the phrase gained its meaning, we're proud to have it as our company name.