'A' originates from Latin, specifically the letter 'A', where it was adopted from Greek 'alpha' and ultimately from Phoenician 'aleph', in which 'aleph' meant 'ox'.

'A' changed from the Phoenician word 'aleph' to Greek 'alpha', then to Latin 'A', and eventually became the modern English letter 'A'.

Initially, the name (from 'aleph') referred to an ox (the original pictogram) and the symbol; over time it came to denote simply the first letter and, by extension, notions of 'first' or 'excellent' (as in grade A).