ниче не исторически. вот вам статейка, просвящайтесь!
http://www.feod.org/a005.htm
Там все на русском написано, а вот еще цитата из западных источников:


In Russia, for instance, it seems that the most common word for the @ is sobaka ( dog) or sobachka ( doggie) -- apparently because a computer game popular when e-mail was first introduced involved chasing an @-shaped dog on the screen. (Don't laugh; Pac-Man was shaped like a pie with a missing slice.) So when Natasha gives her e-mail address to someone, it comes out sounding like she calls herself "Natasha, the dog." "Everybody's used to it," says Peter Finn, The Post's Moscow correspondent, "but there are still jokes -- people say 'Natasha, don't be so hard on yourself.' " Ah, those crazy Russians.

Do you see the @ as a curled up cat? That's why it's sometimes kotek or "kitten" in Poland and miuku mauku in Finland, where cats say "miau. "

и обсуждение этой темы:

http://gramota.ru/forum/read.php?f=15&i=1194&t=1194

Я думаю Шур, тебе достаточно этой информации? Хе-хе.... :) @