I am teaching a class called 'English for Marketing' and I am trying to come up with a list of Thai brands that have become what are known as 'proprietary eponyms', which are trademarked names that are often generically associated with the product being sold.

Examples include Kleenex (for tissue paper) and Band-Aid (for plaster) in the US, as well as Hoover (for vacuum cleaner) in the UK.

The only one that springs to mind for Thailand is 'Max' (for stapler = เครื่องเย็บกระดาษ), although of course they pronounce it 'Mack'.

Anyway, any help on this much appreciated!

My colleagues advise me that 'Pampers' (diapers) and Fab (laundry detergent) also qualify.

"Haiter" for bleach. Possibly Sriracha Sauce.

Edited January 28, 201610 yr by Seligne2

When first arriving to Thailand and trying to get copies of passport, documents etc, i had a hard time finding the Thai word or trying to be understood even thou i was saying "phooo tooo copyyyy" real slow.

Then a lovely young lady helped me out with "Farang wanting Xerox".

"Haiter" for bleach. Possibly Sriracha Sauce.

Perfect, thanks. I can't believe I didn't think of Haiter myself!

When first arriving to Thailand and trying to get copies of passport, documents etc, i had a hard time finding the Thai word or trying to be understood even thou i was saying "phooo tooo copyyyy" real slow.

Then a lovely young lady helped me out with "Farang wanting Xerox".

Gotta run this one by my students ...CoPEE seems to be the standard now.

Another, thanks to my colleagues: แฟซ่า (Thai attempt at 'Feather'), a shampoo produced by Kao Industries.

Please note this is not an endorsement of shampoo, which is actually bad for your hair (unless bird droppings fall into it).

I'm not sure about other parts of Thailand but in our Isaan neighborhood instant noodles are called มาม่า (Mama) regardless of the brand name on the package.

I'm not sure about other parts of Thailand but in our Isaan neighborhood instant noodles are called มาม่า (Mama) regardless of the brand name on the package.

Good one. I second this nomination.

My colleagues advise me that 'Pampers' (diapers) and Fab (laundry detergent) also qualify.

Im not sure how they write it but ive heard something like ผำเพิส mostly

Not sure about this but how about 'Maggi' sauce?

แอสไพริน Used here generically same as in the West, altho it was a Bayer trademark

'Pampers' (diapers) ผ้าอ้อมสำเร็จรูป ผ้าอ้อมเด็ก

'Pampers' (diapers) ผ้าอ้อมสำเร็จรูป ผ้าอ้อมเด็ก

Oops!, etymology.. «Pampers» (made by Procter & Gamble) - "pamper" แพมเพอร์

[แอสไพริน Used here generically same as in the West, altho it was a Bayer trademark]

Not to disagree, just a separate point that I've not heard Thais asking for aspirin for a long time.

Today's drug of choice seems to be พารา as in paracetamol.

'Pampers' (diapers) ผ้าอ้อมสำเร็จรูป ผ้าอ้อมเด็ก

Oops!, etymology.. «Pampers» (made by Procter & Gamble) - "pamper" แพมเพอร์

Yes, but as @bearpolar noted, it's usually pronounced by Thais as ผำเพิส, with a "t" sound at the end.

[แอสไพริน Used here generically same as in the West, altho it was a Bayer trademark]

Not to disagree, just a separate point that I've not heard Thais asking for aspirin for a long time.

Today's drug of choice seems to be พารา as in paracetamol.

True enuf, but the question was about generic use of trademarks, not buying habits

[แอสไพริน Used here generically same as in the West, altho it was a Bayer trademark]

Not to disagree, just a separate point that I've not heard Thais asking for aspirin for a long time.

Today's drug of choice seems to be พารา as in paracetamol.

True enuf, but the question was about generic use of trademarks, not buying habits

Yes, that's why I said "not to disagree."

"Just a separate" companion observation tangential to this fun thread.

[แอสไพริน Used here generically same as in the West, altho it was a Bayer trademark]

Not to disagree, just a separate point that I've not heard Thais asking for aspirin for a long time.

Today's drug of choice seems to be พารา as in paracetamol.

never heard a thai ask for para, ive heard get a sara or tiffy.

I've been waiting for someone to say Shera เฌอร่า.

This is fake wood made from wood fiber and concrete.

There are several other brands in the market, Conwood, Chang brand, Leaf brand.

But Thais commonly refer to all of them as ไม้เฌอร่า or just เฌอร่า.

The interesting thing about this is that most workers most likely don't spell it correctly using ฌ.

Sh sound is a difficult sound for Thais in that like the letter ฌ, it's rarely used.

แอสไพริน Used here generically same as in the West, altho it was a Bayer trademark

The same people who gave us Heroin! This definitely qualifies, but I am really hoping to find examples specific to the Thai marketplace. Another that springs to mind now is กาวตราช้าง for Superglue.

Anyway, that's what we call it in the US, another eponym. I guess you need one when the generic name is as nerdy as 'ethyl cyanoacrylate'...

Going in to teach them now and want to thank everyone for their contributions. Much appreciated.

Well, one of the students came up with one of the most obvious ones: Sunlight, for dishwashing liquid.

Tissue paper:
คลีเน็กซ์ from Kleenex (yes, Thai people also use this)

Adhesive tape:
สก๊อตเทป from Scotch Tape

Adhesive cleaning pad:
สก๊อตไบร์ท from Scotch Brite

Chicken Chili sauce:
น้ําจิ้มแม่ประนอม from the Mae Pranom brand of chicken chili sauce

Colored marker pen:
สีเมจิก from Magic Marker

Sanitary pad:
โกเต๊กซ์ from Kotex

Chocolate malt:
โอวัลติน from Ovaltine

Probiotic drink:
ยาคูลท์ from Yakult

Other's which has already been mentioned here

Instant noodles:
มาม่า from Mama brand

Washing powder (both for hand and machine, only used for powder detergent, for liquid detergent, people just call it น้ํายาซักผ้า):
แฟ้บ from Fab by Colgate.
Although "Fab" is not availble in Thailand anymore, people still keep using the word "แฟ้บ".

Photocopy:
ซีร็อกซ์ from Xerox
(Still quite commonly used and readidly understood)

Diapers:
แพมเพิส from Pampers

Bleach:
ไฮเตอร์ from Haiter by Kao

Shampoo:
แฟซ่า from Feather by Kao

Diswhasing liquid:
ซันไลต์ from Sunlight by Unilever

Edited February 2, 201610 yr by Mole

Tissue paper:

คลีเน็กซ์ from Kleenex (yes, Thai people also use this)

Adhesive tape:

สก๊อตเทป from Scotch Tape

Adhesive cleaning pad:

สก๊อตไบร์ท from Scotch Brite

Chicken Chili sauce:

น้ําจิ้มแม่ประนอม from the Mae Pranom brand of chicken chili sauce

Colored marker pen:

สีเมจิก from Magic Marker

Sanitary pad:

โกเต๊กซ์ from Kotex

Chocolate malt:

โอวัลติน from Ovaltine

Probiotic drink:

ยาคูลท์ from Yakult

Other's which has already been mentioned here

Instant noodles:

มาม่า from Mama brand

Washing powder (both for hand and machine, only used for powder detergent, for liquid detergent, people just call it น้ํายาซักผ้า):

แฟ้บ from Fab by Colgate.

Although "Fab" is not availble in Thailand anymore, people still keep using the word "แฟ้บ".

Photocopy:

ซีร็อกซ์ from Xerox

(Still quite commonly used and readidly understood)

Diapers:

แพมเพิส from Pampers

Bleach:

ไฮเตอร์ from Haiter by Kao

Shampoo:

แฟซ่า from Feather by Kao

Diswhasing liquid:

ซันไลต์ from Sunlight by Unilever

Of this list, Thai-language.com and the Paiboon dictionary recognize only Fab, Haiter, and Mama as generic terms, FYI

Edited February 2, 201610 yr by Seligne2

Although not a genericized brand name, the 'Pao' brands of detergents had an interesting genesis

'Pao Boon Jin' or Justice Pao was a Chinese TV show about a judge and the daily goingon in his court, it was very popular and it's still being rerun on TV today, 20-30 years ago the detergent packaging used to show picture of the character from the TV show.

Associating the idea of washing your sheets clean with a legendary Judge must have been brilliant at the time

Since then the brand has moved away from associating with the Judge, shortening the name from Pao Boon Jin to 'Pao' and make no allusion to the Chinese judge anymore

Pao is now colloquial slang for judge, or referee in football

Future Board or Feature Board... I don't know how you would call this in the west but it's corrugated plastic sheets kids use it for school projects and signs, it must have been a brand name that got popularized

Around 2000's with the the advent of popularization of mobile phones, the earpiece start to be come known as 'small talk'

ยางมะตอย Yang Ma Toy Asphalt/Tarmac is from a French company name 'Maltoy' that were the first to bring the technology to Thailand then

Here's the packaging for the Pao Boon Jin detergents, go down supermarkets today and now they're this

Kids younger than 20 that don't know the TV show might not even know what the Pao character is, and could attribute the colloquial 'Pao' for Judge as false etymology that Pao makes things white and clean, hence a good judge is clean as the name brand detergent

In parts of Bangkok, 4 wheel Japanese Kei-Pickup converted to taxi/bus going in and out of soi might be called Tuk-Tuk like the three wheeled ones too, but in some neighbourhood, they're called Subarus, for the brand of Japanese car.... even though they could be Daihatsus or other brand car