Language, an important human behavior, slowly but constantly evolves from older forms to newer ones.  Also our greetings through time have changed several times:

12th Century                HALLOW    Chaucer(1340)                                Europe
16th Century                HALLOO     Shakespeare(1564-1616)                England
19th Century                HULLO                                                               U.S.A
20th Century                HELLO         Thomas Alva Edison(1847-1931)    New Haven, CT
21st Century                HEAVENO   Leonso Canales,Jr. (1940- )            Kingsville, TX

Hello took life in 1878 when Thomas Alva Edison said the first word through the newly invented telephone.  Who really knows, the news media was not around at the time to give us an accurate account.  He could have said, "Hullo," jokingly and mistakenly misprinted.  The fact is that Hello was printed by Noah Webster's dictionary in 1883.

The telephone kept expanding, and so did the greeting.  As the greeting "Hello" kept growing it soon became a general greeting.  Webster's dictionary kept on printing "Hello" as a greeting word.  Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) rejected the "Hello" greeting all his life.  His greeting was "Ahoy, Ahoy!"  The dictionaries became a standard foundation for the language and continued to promote the word as our standard greeting.  We never questioned it; we took it for granted and learned it as it was always there..., and strangely enough it has become our most used word on a daily basis.  "I" is the second.  This negative phenomenon possibly has set its pattern.  We have been too busy and too involved in our daily doings to see the whole picture.  Until a person born in Kingsville, Texas questioned the connotation of the word "Hello."  The "O" is not enough to hide the most negative word (Hell) printed in every dictionary!  This greeting word "Hello" has been upon us for 117 years!  Maybe subconsciously we have promoted and fueled the wrong message.

Let's now understand that we all have been misled.  We should now put it behind us and call the 20th century negative and obsolete.  We should now set a new example and set a new precedent!  It is up to us now to make a change and start setting and paving a new road for our youth and ourselves.  Let's show the rest of the world that we are united, friendly, and unique people.

Let's now begin working towards the next 100 years with a more harmonious, intelligent, and positive new universal greeting:  "HEAVENO!"  A symbol of Peace, friendship and Welcome!

---

Morris Dictionary(1962)

hello:  Legend has it that Thomas Alva Edison himself was the first to say hello over the telephone

Alexander Graham Bell, who is reported to have used "Hoy" or "Ahoy" all his life, rejecting "Hello."