Why is it called Hedera? The meaning behind the name and the HBAR token symbol

The meaning and naming origin of Hedera

Hedera is the Latin name for the genus "ivy", a climbing evergreen plant. The network adopted the name in 2018, but Hedera officials did not disclose detailed reasons for choosing the name.

In contrast, the source of the HBAR token symbol is more clear. Hedera points out that it originates in physics: (pronounced "h-bar", i.e. h plus a horizontal line) is the symbol for reducing Planck's constant.

What is Hedera?

In botany, Hedera is a genus containing 12 to 15 species of evergreen climbers. The most famous of these is Hedera helix, or ordinary ivy. On flat ground, ivy can only climb 5 to 20 centimeters high; but if attached to a tree or wall, it can climb at least 30 meters high, relying on tiny aerial roots to hold tightly to the support.

Why did the Internet choose this name?

The company's internal records show when the name was determined, but did not explain why.

What the record displays

Hedera's official timeline lists the following key steps:

• 2012 - 2015: Leemon Baird invented the Hashgraph. He later co-founded Swirlds, Inc. with Mance Harmon.
• May 31, 2016: released the Hashgraph white paper.
• 2018: chose "Hedera" as the brand and company name and designed the HBAR logo.
• 2018 年 8 月 24 日：主网上线，所有 500 亿枚 HBAR 被铸造完成。
• 2019 年 9 月 16 日：主网向公众开放。

常春藤理论

最常见的解读是将网络与植物的生长特性联系起来。2018 年 9 月，Decrypt 记者 Adriana Hamacher 注意到了常春藤的联系，并质疑该技术是否像其同名植物一样，“生长迅速、具有韧性且具备即时可扩展性”。这属于推测而非公司声明，读者应以此角度看待。

HBAR 符号的来源与单位划分

HBAR 符号从何而来？

Hedera 官方账号在 X 平台上发帖称：“有些人认为 HBAR 代表 Hedera 标志中的条形元素。”但实际上，它源自物理学。“H-bar (ℏ) 是使量子物理学保持一致的单位。”

约化普朗克常数是普朗克常数除以 2π。它是物理学中最小的基本常数之一。早在 2019 年，Ishita Bora 在 Medium 上的一篇解析文章就将这种“微小性”与 HBAR 在微支付中的作用联系起来。

货币符号为 ℏ（小写斜体），而 Hedera 标志中使用的是大写 Ħ。

HBAR 是如何划分的？

就像比特币分为 Satoshi 一样，HBAR 也可以分割成更小的单位。Hedera SDK 列出了以下单位：

• Tinybar：In the smallest unit, 1 HBAR is equal to 100,000,000 Tinybars.
• Microbar：100 Tinybars。
• Millibar：100,000 Tinybars。
• Kilobar, Megabar, Gigabar: 10, 1 million and 1 billion HBAR respectively.

Developers often use Tinybars to accurately calculate costs.

Differences between Hashgraph and Hedera

These two names are often confused. Hashgraph is a consensus algorithm, a method used by nodes to determine the order of transactions. Hedera is the public network running the algorithm.

Originally, Swirlds held patents for Hashgraph. In 2022, the Hedera Board of Governors voted to purchase the patent rights and release the algorithm under the Apache 2.0 open source license. In 2024, the codebase was transferred to the Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust, now known as Hiero. In 2025, the Governance Council was renamed the Hedera Council.

Update on Hedera

Several important developments have occurred in the past few weeks:

• IBM: On September 23, Hedera-based Hashgraph Group IDTrust identity products were added to the IBM Cloud Catalog. On September 28, HBAR prices jumped more than 20% to just under $0.13, before giving up most of the gains.
• Hitachi: After completing the agreed multi-year term starting in January 2024, it will officially withdraw from the Hedera Council on September 30, 2026.
• stablecoins: According to DefiLlama, the USDC on Hedera increased from approximately US$27 million to approximately US$46 million in a week.

These advances build on existing integrations. Since April 2025, Hedera has run Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), Data Feeds, and Proof of Reserve on the main network. CCIP allows Hedera apps to move tokens and data to other blockchains.

Currently, the circulation of HBAR is 43.998 billion pieces, the fixed supply is 50 billion pieces, and the market value is approximately US$4.085 billion. Its price is down about 84% from its all-time high of $0.5692.

Conclusion

Hedera's name comes from the Latin word meaning "ivy" and was chosen in 2018, but no official reasons were publicly released. Its HBAR symbol is derived from (reduced Planck's constant) and can be subdivided into Tinybar for accurate cost calculations. The network runs the Hashgraph algorithm, is governed by a 33-member board, and is connected to other blockchains through Chainlink CCIP.