What Does Lua Mean in Portuguese?

The Lua programming language takes its name directly from the Portuguese word for "moon." Developed in 1993 at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) in Brazil, the language was created by Roberto Ierusalimschy, Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo, and Waldemar Celes. The name was chosen to reflect its relationship with an earlier data-description language developed by the same team, establishing a clever astronomical connection that remains a core part of the language's identity.

The Origin Behind the Name

Before Lua existed, the team at PUC-Rio developed a language called SOL, an acronym for "Simple Object Language." In Portuguese, the word sol translates to "sun." When the developers set out to build a more powerful, lightweight, and embeddable scripting language to replace and expand upon SOL, they sought a name that would acknowledge its predecessor.

Because the new language was designed to be smaller, complementary, and closely paired with their earlier work, they selected the Portuguese word lua, meaning "moon." Just as the moon orbits the Earth and reflects the light of the sun, Lua was seen as a natural companion to SOL.

Why Lua Is Not an Acronym

A common misconception among programmers is that Lua is an acronym written in all capital letters like "LUA." Because languages like BASIC, COBOL, and SQL are acronyms, many assume Lua follows the same convention.

However, the creators have explicitly clarified that Lua is a proper noun rather than an abbreviation. It should always be written in title case as "Lua," never capitalized as "LUA." Writing it in all uppercase treats it as an acronym, obscuring its literal meaning and poetic heritage.

The Visual Identity

The celestial origin also directly inspired Lua's official logo. Designed by Alexandre Nakonechnyj, the logo features a small blue sphere orbiting a larger blue sphere, evoking the image of a moon in orbit. This branding serves as a permanent homage to the language’s Brazilian roots and its linguistic meaning.