QWERTY ( ) is the most common modern-day keyboard layout on English-language computer and typewriter keyboards. It takes its name from the first six letters seen in the keyboard's top first row of letters. The QWERTY design was patented by Christopher Sholes in 1874 and sold to Remington in the same year, when it first appeared in typewriters. The asteroid 6600 Qwerty was named in its honour.