Taco and Paprika? Binney & Smith Sees Thousands of Names for Red
By Dean Starkman, The Wall Street Journal. July 27, 1999

EASTON, Pa. - Only twice in its 114-year history has Binney & Smith Inc. changed the name of one of its Crayola crayons. In 1958, Prussian Blue became Midnight Blue, because children didn't know where Prussia was. About four years later, amid growing consciousness about civil rights, Flesh became Peach.

So earlier this year, when the company yielded to years of complaints that Indian Red was being misconstrued as a reference to Native American's skin color, it announced a contest to pick a new name.

Winners aren't promised much — a certificate and an assortment of Crayola products. Still, more than 100,000 people flooded the company's headquarters here with more than 300,000 suggestions. Ideas arrived neatly typed or painstakingly scrawled in crayon; some came with photographs of houses, canyons and dogs. One arrived with a 19th-century Indian Head penny, another with a squashed ladybug.

Indian Red's real namesake — the color of clay found in India — is a brownish sort of red, which many of the suggestions reflected. Among them: Paprika, Auburn Red, Bard Red and Castilian Brown. Also, Caramel, Henna, IncREDible, Sedona, Coq Au Vin, Brown Bubble, Pork-N-Beans and Cherry Mocha Scream.

Then there were redder red names, like Fully Red, Ripest Red, Rupture Red, Red Rupture, Red Force, Red Melon, Red Explosion, Red Ants, Red, rain, Red Kiss, Red Wish, Red Star, Mission Red, Stoplight Red, Stop-Sign Red, Sunset Red, Setting-Sun Red, Meatballs & Spaghetti, Red Drizzle, Red Taco and Mars Red.

A Bishop, Calif., woman sent more than 400 ideas, including head-scratchers like Amboyna, Arches, Grouper, Fred, FRED, Liver, Olen, Pigweed, Ubar and Zarza. Eggheads sent names derived from Greek and Latin. Among the more gothic entries: Bat's Blood and Chokeberry. Smart alecks suggested Not Blue.

Binney & Smith staffers narrowed the entries to 500, then to a final 11. Last month, a 12-member "creativity team" met at the company's headquarters to analyze the lot.

Red Rooster, Earth Red and four others were eliminated as too red-sounding. "If you've seen Adobe, it's pinkish," said one committee member. "Autumn to me is so many colors," said another.

Finally, they settled on a winner, a name suggested by 155 contestants, who will be notified by letter today. It meets the company's "appropriateness" standards and it isn't likely to offend anyone.

The winner is: Chestnut.

Note: Karen is the Bishop, California woman referenced above. Some of her other names are also mentioned elsewhere in the article.

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