# How are medications named? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2011, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-medications-named/575583 "2011-03-22T07:37:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-medications-named/575583/1 "2011-03-22T07:37:12Z")
Why are Benzodiazepines called Benzodiazepines? Where does this word structure come from? What does the “diaz” part and the “pine” part mean, etymologically? Where does it originate? Alprazolam. Diazepam. Why? Why the “pam” and “am” endings - is there some significance to this, going back to Latin or Greek? ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-medications-named/575583/2 "2011-03-22T08:09:08Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Why are Benzodiazepines called Benzodiazepines? Where does this word structure come from? What does the “diaz” part and the “pine” part mean, etymologically? Where does it originate? It’s a chemical name. Benzene ring + diazepine ring, which is a ring containing two nitrogens, so it’s di-azepine. Many nitrogenous structures have “az” in their name, which traces back to a [Greek root.](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=azo-) > [@Online Etymology Dictionary](#): > > azo- > 1879, comb. form denoting the presence of nitrogen, from azote, the old term for “nitrogen,” from Gk. a- “not, without” + zoion “a living being;” coined in French by Lavoisier & de Morveau because living things cannot survive in the gas. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-medications-named/575583/3 "2011-03-22T08:51:14Z")
Drugs which consist of a single chemical have several names: the basic (and in some cases very long) systematic name, various other generic name usually formed by abbreviating the chemical name, and then zero or more (usually trademarked) trade names used by the manufacturers. So, for example, take LSD. The systematic name is (6aR,9R)- N,N- diethyl- 7-methyl- 4,6,6a,7,8,9- hexahydroindolo- [4,3-fg] quinoline- 9-carboxamide. Since that’s quite a mouthful, the shorter (but still generic) terms lysergic acid diethylamide or LSD are usually used. It was manufactured and sold commercially under the trade name delysid. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-medications-named/575583/4 "2011-03-22T09:41:48Z")
Doesn’t explain why Ass Effects ended up making it all the way through and as the marketing name. [Asiphex] ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-medications-named/575583/5 "2011-03-22T12:35:41Z")
I’ll see your Aciphex and raise you one (Enablex, possibly the dumbest drug name of all time). The generic names make sense to pharmacologists based on chemical structure. The brand names often make sense only if you’re on crack. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-medications-named/575583/6 "2011-03-22T13:02:55Z")
The brand names are sometimes picked to be unique so they can be remembered. For a while they liked to use z in names since not many words use z. So we got prozac, zantac, etc. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-medications-named/575583/7 "2011-03-22T18:26:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I’ll see your Aciphex and raise you one (Enablex, possibly the dumbest drug name of all time). > > The generic names make sense to pharmacologists based on chemical structure. The brand names often make sense only if you’re on crack. Anusol remains my favorite. Long A, short U, long O. . ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-medications-named/575583/8 "2011-03-22T19:46:36Z")
Drugs with the _-mab_ ending are monoclonal antibodies. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-medications-named/575583/9 "2011-03-23T08:15:00Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > [LSD] was manufactured and sold commercially under the trade name delysid. This sort of derivation from the generic name seems to have been a lot more popular in the past.