The term inductance was first used by Oliver Heaviside in 1886, whereas the symbol for inductance (L) is in honor of Heinrich Lenz who devised many laws and principles of inductance. Inductance was first discovered by Faraday while studying charges in various experiments. However the name was later given to this phenomenon and Sir Joseph Henry independently discovered inductance, but after Faraday, and hence the SI unit to measure inductance is the Henry.

Two types of inductance exist, differing by the source of its production:

• Self inductance — Caused in a conductor having changing current
• Mutual inductance — Caused in a conductor placed near a current-carrying circuit

Both are ordinary inductances and differ only due to the circuit they are part of.