'H' originates from the Phoenician letter 'ḥet' (a Semitic source), where the original letter represented a guttural consonant.

'H' changed from the Phoenician 'ḥet' into Greek letters (related forms including heta/eta), then was adopted into the Latin alphabet as 'H'; the modern English name developed later via Old French 'ache' to English 'aitch'.

Initially it denoted a guttural consonant sound in Semitic alphabets; over time the symbol became the Latin letter 'H' representing the /h/ sound in many languages, while the Greek descendant became a vowel (eta). The spoken name evolved into the modern English 'aitch'.