iStock / Getty Images Plus. Ideas. By Katy Steinmetz. February 27, 2020 1:58 PM EST. ... They linked their surnames just as those firms had, but they used a plus sign.

The use of the plus sign goes back to at least 1984, when the French television channel Canal+ made its debut. Google was part of the trend from 2011 to 2019 , with its Google+ social network .