Pepsi was originally called “Brad’s Drink”.
In the late 1800s, Caleb Bradham, a pharmacy graduate from the University of Maryland, opened Bradham’s Pharmacy in New Bern, North Carolina. Like most drugstore owners at the time, Bradham attracted customers to his pharmacy through high-concept interior design, with his storefront featuring a jukebox and a selection of sodas for sale. Regulars quickly fell in love with his unique kola nut vanilla option, and in no time, Bradham began to sell it as “Brad’s Drink” until renaming the drink to Pepsi-Cola a few years later, in 1902. He also took no time in selling this fizzy drink as a refreshment.
Bradham trademarked “Pepsi-Cola” shortly after purchasing the name “Pep-Kola” from a nearby business rival. From there, he took inspiration from pepsin, a digestive agent naturally found in people’s stomachs, and tweaked its name to “Pepsi-Cola,” despite the fact that the company has never included the gastric chemical in its famous drink. In fact, early promotional material for the refreshment called it the “Pepsin drink” (per the ECU Digital Collections ).