octothorp
Otherwise known as the numeral sign.
It has also been used as a symbol for the pound avoirdupois,
but this usage is now archaic.
In cartography,
it is also a symbol for village:
eight fields around a central square,
and this is the source of its name.
Octothorp means eight fields.
- Robert Bringhurst (The Elements of Typographic Style (2d edition, 1996), Hartley & Marks, Publishers, Point Roberts, WA; Vancouver, BC, Canada, p. 282