The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

equals
=

    "=", ASCII character 61.

   Common names: ITU-T: equals; gets; takes.  Rare:
   quadrathorpe; INTERCAL: half-mesh.

   Equals is used in many languages as the assignment operator
   though earlier languages used ":=" ("becomes equal to") to
   avoid upsetting mathematicians with statements such as "x =
   x+1".  It is also used in compounds such as "<=", ">=", "==",
   "/=", "!=" for various comparison operators and in C's "+=",
   "*=" etc. which mimic the primitive operations of
   two-address code.

   (1995-03-29)