Aspirin is now a generic drug, but it was once a brand-name product made by Bayer. It’s just one of many genericized trademarks, also known as proprietary eponyms, which includes not only aspirin, but kerosene, dry ice, and cellophane. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Naming Aspirin”
We’ve been talking about brand names today, so I want to share one of my favorite lists with you.
A favorite list?
Yeah, you know, lists of words. Don’t you have these?
Oh gosh, all over the place.
This one is a list of terms that used to be brand names but are now generic.
Like Kleenex.
Well, not fully generic yet, but close. How about aspirin?
That is fully generic in the United States, and most people don’t know that it used to be a brand name for the bear company.
Right.
Yeah, and it still is in some countries a brand name for that product.
Yeah, capital A.
Kerosene?
Kerosene.
Kerosene.
Was a brand name?
I didn’t know that.
It was a brand name, yeah, and dry ice was a brand name.
Now, that’s surprising.
Cellophane?
Cellophane.
That one you probably knew, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Thermos, you probably still have a little bit of understanding that that was a brand name, right?
Okay, I just thought it was a Greek word.
Well, maybe it was originally, but it was also a brand name for this vacuum device that keeps things cool or hot, right?
That’s the list. I’ll share them on the website, waywordradio.org.
If you hear “Bring me some aspirin” could that mean that they want Tylenol or Advil, for instance, or does it mean strictly aspirin?
It could! Though I’m not sure that “aspirin” is generic fully in that way. It is already generic in one way, as “Asprin” used to be a brand name.