Why is the "<" symbol named the "less-than sign"?

[Shriramana Sharma]

When I was a child and first taught < and > at school, I figured that
they were derived from the equals sign =, except that the bigger
number has the bigger separation between the lines and the smaller
number has the smaller separation becoming none. So I do see meaning
in it.

And it was obviously named the less than sign long before it was used
for XML tags.

-- 
Shriramana Sharma ஶ்ரீரமணஶர்மா श्रीरमणशर्मा 𑀰𑁆𑀭𑀻𑀭𑀫𑀡𑀰𑀭𑁆𑀫𑀸