Four Trademark Names

People continue to use X-Acto knife as a generic term. However, it is a trademark term owned by Elmer’s Products, Inc. It was intended to be used as a scalpel, but it could not be cleaned well enough, so it became a hobby kit tool.

Inventor Caleb Bradham originally wanted to be a doctor, but started working in a pharmacy in North Carolina. In 1893, he concocted what he first called “Brad’s Drink,” a mix of water, sugar, caramel, lemon oil, nutmeg, and other flavors. Five years later, he renamed it Pepsi-Cola. He claimed the drink could help with digestion, or dyspepsia, the term from which Bradham adapted the name Pepsi.

When the fried chicken restaurant Chicken on the Run struggled after its grand opening in 1972, the founder reopened it as Popeye's. The name was not in reference to a spinach-loving sailor but to detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle from The French Connection.

Originally a crop-dusting service, Huff Dusters was renamed Delta after the Mississippi delta region it originally served. In 1929, the airline began operating passenger flights that could carry five passengers and a pilot.