"There are 10 types of people in this world - those who know binary, and those who don't."
Upon founding in 2010, the initial name of the organization was "10BitWorks Hackerspace".
Back then, a rebrand to "Republic of Makers" (RoM) was discussed, after crowdsourcing name suggestions and voting on them. The decision was made to retain the name "10BitWorks", as a "republic of makers" already existed elsewhere online.
The name "10BitWorks" is a reference to binary code, where `10` (one zero) actually equals the number 2 in our everyday "base 10", the decimal system. It's a play on the term "Two-Bit" Hackerspace.
Today, we're better known as 10BitWorks Makerspace. Note that the one-zero in our name is indeed meant to be pronounced as "ten" in everyday usage. Ten bit works.