7UP

Created by the politely-named Howdy Corporation, 7UP was launched two weeks before the great Wall Street Crash of 1929 (although that’s not related, just interesting).  Originally called “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda” and containing lithium citrate, a mood-stabilising drug.  Eventually shorted to “7UP Lithiated Lemon Soda” before they eventually got the message in 1936 and just called it “7UP”.  Does the name refer to the seven main ingredients and/or to the 7-ounce bottles it was originally packaged in, as the makers tell us, or to the lithium, which hasn’t been an ingredient since 1948 but has an atomic number of seven?  Honestly, we don’t care.