The symbol of Occidental was chosen in 1936 after some deliberation and many other proposed symbols, including stylized letters, a star as in Esperanto and Ido, a setting sun to represent the sun in the west (the Occident), a globe, and more. The tilde, already used by the Occidental-Union, was eventually selected based on five criteria: symbolic character, simplicity, originality, inconfusability, and for being bichromatic (having two colours) as opposed to polychromatic. Beyond the five criteria, the Occidentalists at the time referenced the lack of a fixed meaning for the tilde in the public sphere, and its similarity to a waveform, implying speech.