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Do you use “a” or “an” before acronyms?

I got the following sentence from the book I'm reading:

You can take a database-first approach by first creating a SQL Server database schema.

From what I learned, I think it should be "an SQL Server database schema", not "a SQL Server database schema". So which one is correct?

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Duplicate of “an SQA or a SQA?”, which is itself a duplicate of “Do you use 'a' or 'an' before acronyms?” – RegDwighт♦ Nov 19 '10 at 9:29
Oh I'm sorry. I should have searched before asking. – Hai Minh Nguyen Nov 19 '10 at 10:06

marked as duplicate by RegDwighт♦, Mehper C. Palavuzlar, Joshua Karstendick, Kosmonaut Nov 19 '10 at 13:56

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This depends, I would think, on your pronunciation of SQL. It can be pronounced as "sequel", or spelled out as "S-Q-L". That perhaps doesn't help in written English.

A thoroughly scientific survey of Google throws up many more hits for "an SQL" than "a SQL". This is also the form used on that Wikipedia article and elsewhere, such as this Microsoft SQL Server documentation entitled "Executing an SQL Query".

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I never knew SQL can be pronounced as "sequel". – Hai Minh Nguyen Nov 19 '10 at 10:05
@Hai Minh Nguyen: I think there was a very early SQL product actually named "SEQUEL" and some people just use that for pronouncing SQL. – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner Aug 10 '11 at 16:18

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