Was the prime interest rate named after a guy named Prime?

[Elendil_s_Heir]

So says my friend, who’s usually pretty financially savvy. Sounds like jive to me, but Wiki and Google don’t say yea or nay. What’s the straight dope?

[ultrafilter]

That strikes me as the sort of thing that’s so dumb that no one would bother refuting it.

[LurkMeister]

I always assumed that it came from the word “prime” meaning best, as in the prime rate would be the best rate that was available.

[Tim_T-Bonham.net]

@Elendil's Heir

So says my friend, who’s usually pretty financially savvy. Sounds like jive to me, but Wiki and Google don’t say yea or nay. What’s the straight dope?

I think it was that ancient Greek guy who discovered prime numbers, and who they named the Prime Meridian after, too. And he was a rich cattleman, famous for producing prime cuts of beef.

---

You either need to get smarter friends, or learn to recognize when they are joking with you.

[Q.E.D]

@t-bonham@scc.net

I think it was that ancient Greek guy who discovered prime numbers, and who they named the Prime Meridian after, too. And he was a rich cattleman, famous for producing prime cuts of beef.

He also invented the mechanism to initialize pumps.

[ZenBeam]

And there was that whole Directive thing…

[gazpacho]

Come on guys. Every one knows it is named after Optimus Prime. Optimus is the unofficial mascot of the banking industry.

[Colibri]

@Elendil's Heir

So says my friend, who’s usually pretty financially savvy. Sounds like jive to me, but Wiki and Google don’t say yea or nay. What’s the straight dope?

Standard operating practice would be to ask for a cite, or at least a first name.

Neither Wikipedia nor my edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica list any biographies for anyone named “Prime.” Based on that I think you may feel free to ridicule him.

Unless he was whooshing you.

[Q.E.D]

@Colibri

Neither Wikipedia nor my edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica list any biographies for anyone named “Prime.”

Well, there’s always Optimus.

[samclem]

The term “prime rate,” as used to refer to interest rates, only shows up in English in the 1920’s. At that juncture, interest rates were offered to various commercial customers as to whether the banks considered them prime names/good names/other.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Thanks, everybody. That’s about what I thought, too. The funny thing is, I don’t think he was joking!

[KneadToKnow]

@Q.E.D.

Well, there’s always Optimus.

Missed it by –> <– that much.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

My friend, when I asked him for more details, said he had family genealogical papers referring to Nathaniel Prime, a prominent NYC financier of the early 1800s. I’ve found some historic references to him elsewhere, but nothing to suggest that the interest rate was named after him. Looks like a coincidence.

[Terminus_Est]

@samclem

The term “prime rate,” as used to refer to interest rates, only shows up in English in the 1920’s. At that juncture, interest rates were offered to various commercial customers as to whether the banks considered them prime names/good names/other.

The earliest citation given by the OED is dated 1815 and attributed to the [London] Times of 23 Jan:

There remain in the West-India Dock Company’s warehouses various goods imported prior to the 31st of December, 1813, upon which no payment of *prime rates, rent, and other charges has been made.

“Prime rate” is listed as a special use under the entry "prime, adj. (and int.) and adv.* and makes no mention of it being derived from anyone named Prime.

The OED also has six entries for “prime, n.” and four entries for “prime, v.”, each with multiple senses, none of which feature Nathaniel Prime or anyone else named Prime.

[CalMeacham]

This reminds me of that piece in A Random Walk Through Science about those overlooked geniuses, Moire (who started translating hieroglyphics before Champollion or even Young and, of course, invented the Moire pattern) and Schlieren 9inventor of that famous form of photography). They later combined their talents to come up with a method of visualizing fluid flow.

[Alex_Dubinsky]

Hey, look, I can google!

Business History Review, Winter 2003, Review of Street of Dreams–Boulevard of Broken Hearts: Wall Street’s First Century. By Howard
Wachtel, 2003

Unless they have read Wachtel’s book, most probably also have never heard of Nathaniel Prime, the first president of the New York Stock and Exchange Board (the predecessor to the NYSE). While the cast of characters in Street of Dreams generally is not novel, Wachtel does give a voice, as he promises, to some forgotten individuals important to the Exchange’s history. Nathaniel Prime is a case in point. Researching the Prime family papers at the New York Historical Society, the author unearthed interesting vignettes from this man’s career, and he entertains the reader with some engaging trivia, like the origins of the term “prime rate of interest.” Had Wachtel conducted more archival research of this caliber, his book would have been greatly enriched.

@CalMeacham

This reminds me of that piece in A Random Walk Through Science about those overlooked geniuses, Moire (who started translating hieroglyphics before Champollion or even Young and, of course, invented the Moire pattern) and Schlieren 9inventor of that famous form of photography). They later combined their talents to come up with a method of visualizing fluid flow.

Surely if you get stuff named after you, you’re not overlooked. Man, I’d hate to be the guys you’re overlooking.

[Alex_Dubinsky]

@Transnational Institute

Investment banking, the target of the recent global settlement, first made its mark on Wall Street during and after the War of 1812 when its leader, Nathaniel Prime, inspired the great canal-building era in America, which included the monumental Erie Canal (1835). Prime became the first president of the New York Stock and Exchange Board (1817) from which today’s NYSE takes its lineage.

Prime, who sought to establish a bond of trust between his firm and his clients, would no doubt be appalled at the behavior of his counterparts today. Like many who would follow him, however, Prime lived out his later years as a rich man with a troubled spirit. One contemporary account of him stated that, “A strange fancy seized upon his mind, that he was becoming poor, [and] that his destiny was to die in an almshouse. Under this singular monomania, and hallucianation of mind, he cut his throat with a razor, and died on the instant”.

http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?act_id=2304&username=guest@tni.org&password=9999&publish=Y

Hmm… if an interest rate was ever named after somebody, looks like this guy’d be it. Put on a wig and slap me shirley.

[ultrafilter]

Do you actually have a source that says that the prime interest rate was named after Nathaniel Prime?

[Alex_Dubinsky]

@ultrafilter

Do you actually have a source that says that the prime interest rate was named after Nathaniel Prime?

Um, yes? The book “Street of Dreams–Boulevard of Broken Hearts”? Like I said in the first post? But anyway, your question is dumb because cites only take you so far.

[Terminus_Est]

@Alex_Dubinsky

Surely if you get stuff named after you, you’re not overlooked. Man, I’d hate to be the guys you’re overlooking.

Whoosh!

Hey, look, I can see the shock waves!