How did NYLON get its name?
Nylon (polyhexamethyleneadipamide) was invented in 1935 by an organic chemist under contract to Du Pont. Wallace Carothers spent seven years on this project before achieving success. Inventing it was only half the problem; what to call it was the other half. Carothers referred to his brainchild as Fiber 66, but as its inventor it’s not surprising he didn’t appreciate the need for name more attractive to consumers. Sexier was better, said Du Pont. Its naming committee considered 400 names, one of them Duparooh (short for Du Pont Pulls A Rabbit Out Of Hat). Another was No Run. A good name, except the fabric did run. The committee tinkered with No Run until it became Nylon. (Some like to view “nylon” as a modification of “no run” spelled backwards.) Du Pont did not announce the new fiber until 1938. An odd bit of lore asserts that the name came from the conflation of New York (NY) and London (Lon), the two cities the product was launched in. Though that’s neat pop etymology, it doesn’t fi
