The Named Anchor

Jump targets before the id attribute existed: an A tag with a name and nothing to click.

In 2026: Partly, and durably: the name attribute on A is obsolete in HTML, but every browser still honours it as a fragment target, because half the old web is stitched together with these. The demo below really jumps inside this frame. The id attribute took the job in HTML 4, on any element, and Back to top links stopped needing an extra tag.

Where it came from: HTML Tags, 1991, and every page with a Back to top link since. The name attribute on A was made obsolete by HTML5 in favour of id.
MDN ↗HTML Tags, 1991 ↗

<!-- The base keeps fragment links resolving inside this sandboxed preview.
     You do not need it on your own page. -->
<base href="about:srcdoc">

<a name="top"></a>
<p><a href="#bottom">Jump to the bottom, 1990s style</a></p>
<div style="height:420px;background:linear-gradient(#eee,#ccc);padding:8px;font:13px Verdana">
  A tall spacer so there is somewhere to jump to.
</div>
<a name="bottom"></a>
<p>You arrived at <code>&lt;a name="bottom"&gt;</code>.
   <a href="#top">Back to top</a>, the most copied link on the old web.</p>