Brand names for proper nouns - American English

In American English we have substituted brand names for many proper nouns. Here is a brief list off the top of my head:

• kleenex (tissue)
• vaseline (petroleum jelly)
• band-aid (adhesive bandage [plaster in BrE])
• kool-aid (a children's sugary fruit juice)
• q-tips (swabs / cotton buds)
• cornflakes (There is no other real name to distinguish it from other cold cereals.)
• coke (cola)
• jello (gelatin)
• kitty litter (the gravel used in a cat's litter box that absorbs the odor)
• muzak (music piped into a store to effect customers' moods)
• scotch tape (clear, light-weight tape)
• xerox (a photocopy)
• crayons (wax pencils, used especially by little children for coloring)
• saran wrap (plastic food wrap)
• post-it (the little sticky notes)
• white-out (liquid mistake eraser)
• crockpot (an electric cooking vessel)
• jacuzzi (tub with jets)
• zip-loc (plastic storage bag that zips closed)
• chapstick (lip balm in a lipstick shape and dispenser)
• windex (liquid glass cleaner)
• aspirin (Bayer came up with the name Aspirin - from the 'A" in acetyl chloride, the "spir" in spiraea ulmaria (the plant they derived the salicylic acid from) and the 'in' was a common suffix for medicines.)
• frisbee (a plastic disc thrown like a flying saucer for play)
• thermos (an airtight container to keep liquids hot while at work or traveling)

Notice that we capitalize these if they refer to the actual brand or if they stand at the beginning of a sentence, of course. Otherwise, when they refer to the category of item they are decapitalized.

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