Aphrodisiacs probably predate Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. In fact, the world's oldest profession may really be the production of drugs to increase libido and physical performance. These substances had active ingredients that remind one of magical potions: powdered rhinoceros horn, spleen of a leopard, and "prairie oysters." But things have changed. You can still find compounds called "Red Rooster" and natural remedies for sale on the web, but since 1998, when the FDA first approved medications to combat male impotency, aphrodisiacs have moved from the realm of the illicit and magical to the heavily regulated (and advertised) world of big-business pharmaceuticals. With some estimates of the market for these drugs going as high at $6 billion per year, there are a large and growing number of competitive drugs whose release is anticipated to compete with Viagra. Look on the web and you can find that Bayer is hoping to launch vardenafil, Schering-Plough Corporation has VasoMax, and NexMed has developed a topical cream called Alprox, to name just three. With so many names to choose from, we have picked two that we think represent some of the core issues at stake when naming a product: Pfizer's Viagra® and Lilly ICOS's Cialis®. VIAGRA Pfizer's Viagra, the first mass market erectile dysfunction drug, benefited from an enormous amount of free publicity, both serious and comic. It is the name against which all other names for similar products will be judged. Viagra expresses strength and power through its resemblance to other words and its innate sound symbolism. Viagra rhymes with Niagara, an iconic waterfall long associated with romance. Beyond the often-made connection between water and sexuality, Niagara Falls is also a prototypical honeymoon destination. Other resemblances multiply Viagra's shades of meaning. The initial syllable is the same as English vie, 'to fight,' and similar to other English words like vigor, vitality, and victory. The balance of the name, '-agra,' suggests aggression. How strongly people react to these association on a conscious level is an open question, but certainly these words will have some influence on Viagra's marketplace impression. The sounds of Viagra further support images of strength and vitality. The prominent initial [v] scored as one of the fastest, biggest, and most energetic sounds in language in Lexicon's sound symbolism research. As such, it sets the tone for the name, and hence the drug, to be also fast, energetic and, in context, big. The reference point of this name is male sexual performance. Viagra directly and successfully addresses the effect of the drug on the penis. While an obvious strategy, this is not the only possible one. The name might just as well have tried to address the benefits of the drug indirectly, by alluding to intimate relationships, or to sexual identity beyond the purely physical. What this suggests is that future brands needn't necessarily try to out-Viagra Viagra. There is plenty of room for names that speak more to the emotional benefits that derive from enhanced sexual function. Cialis seems to be just such a name. CIALIS Cialis is an erectile dysfunction drug from Lilly ICOS. As a name, Cialis differs from Viagra in looks, feel, and meaning. If Viagra is about individual sexual performance on one end of the spectrum, Cialis is about relationships and sensuality on the other. From its appearance, the name could be of classical Greek or Roman origin, even though it isn't. It seems natural enough that it might name a flower (as in chysis, or 'baby orchid,' or cynorchis, the 'dog orchid') or a love goddess (as in Isis, the Egyptian goddess of love). Its air of sensuality could work equally well for a natural aphrodisiac as for an erectile dysfunction pharmaceutical. The sounds of Cialis are soft and smooth, almost feminine, and far less aggressive than those of Viagra. The initial and final sibilants hiss, but they also flow. The two s's become gentler due to the adjacent sound, a light vowel designated by i but long in the first syllable and short in the second. The l in the middle is vowel-like, and the total absence of stop consonants create a word that is dominated by sounds produced with an open vocal tract. As opposed to Viagra's message of male sexual performance, Cialis is a more promising vehicle for expressing a couple's desire to engage romantically and sensually. As a competitive marketing tool, Cialis offers a different vision of sexual enhancement, one that may attract users who are put off by the rather one-sided appeal of Viagra. Back to Lingustic Profile page.