What does A stand for in Star Trek crest?

Answer 1

It isn't the letter "A", although it can look like it in some renderings.

During production of the original series, the producers came up with the idea that each star ship would have it's own emblem, similar to the way that each NASA flight has it's own unique patch. The shape that was eventually decided on is the emblem that looks kind of like a stylized letter "A". This was the shape of the emblem worn on the front of the uniform shirts. As a further refinement, within the same basic shape were different shapes that indicated what division of the ship's complement the wearer was in. During the course of the original series, we did see people from other star ships, and they did, in many if not all cases, had differently shaped emblems.

However, when the movies started it seems the idea of each ship having a unique emblem had been abandoned; the emblem shape had become symbolic, in many people's minds, of Star Trek itself, and so the shape became the emblem for the entire Star Fleet.

One explanation put forth for the shape is that it represents the warp drive curves that allow Star Fleet ships to exceed the speed of light. In reality, though, it began as just a distinctive shape to be used as a shirt emblem.