The term "Ouija" is derived from the French "oui" (for "yes") and the German/Dutch "ja" (also for "yes").

Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard had the idea to create a planchette sold with a board on which the alphabet was printed, and thus had invented the first Ouija board. William Fuld took over the talking board production and in 1901, he started production of his own boards under the name "Ouija”. This is the classic sprit iconography lost, and rarely seen, and slightly updated.