 In Canada the symbol is called both the "number sign" and the "pound sign" or "pound key".The American company Avaya has an option in their programming to denote Canadian English, which in turn instructs the system to say "number sign" to callers instead of "pound sign".In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it is generally called a "hash" (probably ultimately from "hatch", referring to cross-hatching, although the exact derivation is disputed).