Proprietary Eponyms

An eponym is someone or something whose name is or is thought to be the source of something's name (such as a city, country, era, or product); alternately it can be used to refer to the name of something that is based on or derived from someone or something else's name. Albert Einstein is the eponym of the element einsteinium; conversely, einsteinium is an eponym of Albert Einstein.

There are many different types of eponyms, especially in scientific fields. Theories, laws, equations, proofs, and elements often have their eponyms in the people that first discovered or proved them.

Proprietary eponyms are another matter entirely. These are general words that are, or were at one time, proprietary brand names or service marks. Kleenex, for example, is a brand of facial tissues, yet the word is used today to refer to facial tissues of any brand. Xerox is a brand of photocopy machine; that word, too, has been since adopted to refer to any brand of photocopy machine and, moreover, also employed as a verb to describe the act of photocopying. As this illustrates, although brand names are proper adjectives (as in, "Kleenex facial tissues"), when such terms are adopted for general use they tend to become nouns and often also verbs.

Some proprietary eponyms are given below. Where two spellings are given, the first spelling is the version in common use, while the second, parenthesized spelling refers to the original product name or service mark.

Active Trademarks Often Used Generically

Alka Seltzer
AstroTurf
Band Aid
Beer Nuts
Benzedrine
Boogie Board
Breathalyzer
Brillo Pad
BVDs
Chapstick (Chap Stick)
Cheerios
Claymation
Coke (Coca Cola)
Cola (Coca Cola)
Cool-Aid (Kool-Aid)
Cuisinart
Demerol
Ditto Machine
Dixie Cups
Dumpster
Erector Set
Fiberglass (Fiberglas)
Fig Newtons
Freon
Frisbee
Green Stamp
Hacky Sack
Hi-lighter (Hi-Liter)
Hoover
Hula-Hoop
Jacuzzi
Jeep
Jello (Jell-O)
Jockey Shorts
Kitty Litter
Kleenex
Laundromat
Levi's
Life Savers
Mace
Magic Marker
Microchip
Novocain
Oreo
Palm Pilot
Parcheesi (replacing the generic word "Pachisi")
Ping Pong (replacing the generic term "Table Tennis")
Play-Doh
Plexiglas
Polaroid
Pop Tart
Popsicle
Post-It Note
Q-Tip
Rollerblade
Roller Derby
Scotch Tape
Scrabble
Sellotape
Sheetrock
Skivvies
Styrofoam
Super Glue
Teflon
Teleprompter (TelePrompTer)
Teletype
Teva
Thermos
TV Dinner
Tylenol
UNIX
Valium
Vaseline
Velcro
Walkman
Welcome Wagon
White Out (Wite-Out)
Wiffle Ball
Windbreaker
X-Acto Knife
Xerox

Defunct Trademarks Used Generically

Aspirin
Brassiere
Cellophane
Celluloid
Corselet (Corselette)
Escalator
Granola
Gunk
Heroin
Jungle Gym (Junglegym)
Kerosene
Linoleum
Mimeograph
Pogo Stick (Pogo)
Saran Wrap
Shredded Wheat
Tabloid
Yo-yo
Zipper

Of Special Note

Nylon is often thought of to be a trademark, but in fact it never was.
Special mention must be made of Spam, a product and trademark of Hormel Foods Corp. Rather than broadening by common use to refer to all brands of canned smoked ham and pork instead of just the original brand, the term spam took on a completely different meaning: unsolicited commercial email or electronic postings, usually sent indiscriminately to vast numbers of recipients.