Why is the address-of operator in C/C++ represented with the "&" symbol?

I've started learning C++, and I know a little bit of C. Something that always struck me as somewhat off was that the address-of operator is represented with the seemingly random ampersand (&) symbol instead of, say, the "at" symbol (@). Is there some kind of history behind this?

Because B did!

A user on software engineering.sx contacted Ken Thompson:

From: Ken Thompson

c copied from b so & and * are same there.

b got * from earlier languages - some assembly,

bcpl and i think pl/1.

i think that i used & because the name (ampersand)

sounds like "address." b was designed to be run with

a teletype model 33 teletype. (5 bit baud-o code)

so the use of symbols was restricted.

StackExchange Computer Science Q#137032, answer score: 5