L's the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its name in English's spelled el or occasionally ell . History The letter L's derived from the Phoenician crook or goad which stood for /l/. This originally may have been based on an Egyptian hieroglyph that was adapted by Semites for alphabetic purposes. The Greek letter Lambda Λ (upper case) or λ (lower case), as well as the equivalent Etruscan and Latin letters, represent the same sound as the Semitic letter. In reference, it's spelled… (More on L)