# Why is gradle called gradle?

**URL:** <https://discuss.gradle.org/t/why-is-gradle-called-gradle/3226>\
**Category:** Old Forum Archive\
**Created:** [December 20, 2011, 8:42am UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/why-is-gradle-called-gradle/3226 "2011-12-20T08:42:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![oeztuerk\_cen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/278dde/32.png) [@oeztuerk\_cen](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/oeztuerk_cen)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 8:42am UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/why-is-gradle-called-gradle/3226/1 "2011-12-20T08:42:00Z")

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is that an acronym or does it have no special meaning? Where does the name came from?

I think it’s always helpful to know some background of the name of a framework/tool. This way i could better keep the tool in mind.

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**Author:** ![hansd](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gradle/user_avatar/discuss.gradle.org/hansd/32/3_2.png) [@hansd](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/hansd)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:25am UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/why-is-gradle-called-gradle/3226/2 "2011-12-20T09:25:00Z")

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My original idea was to call it Cradle. The disadvantages of that name were:

- to diminutive

- not very unique

As Gradle is using Groovy for the DSL I went down the G-road and thought about calling it Gradle. Everyone I asked liked it so that became the official name. That was about 4 years ago. I’m still very happy with the name.