Lycra, Velcro, Teflon, Tyvek, Nylon, Cellophane, Styrofoam, Formica, Tweed, Linoleum, Kevlar and Spandex - they don't sound like puppy names, do they? There's a technical ring to it. Why have people named Velcro as Velcro? Why not Zipnot? Peter Karlen of
Neonym dissected this very issue in a
lovely piece for Brandchannel. Digest it if you want some raw material on naming materials.