Nylon
1930s: an invented word, on the pattern of cotton and rayon .
wiktionary
Arbitrary letters + -on (by analogy with cotton); the widespread claim that the word derives from abbreviations of New York and London is a myth. Another claim is that an earlier name proposed for the material, intended for use in stockings, was "no-run", which was altered to avoid falsely representing that stockings made from the material would not run at all. [1]
etymonline
nylon (n.)
1938, coined, according to DuPont, from a random generic syllable nyl- + -on, a common ending in fiber names (compare rayon and later Dacron), said to be ultimately from cotton. "Consumer Reports" in 1939 called it "duPont's much-publicised new miracle yarn, which is scheduled to appear in 5,000,000 stockings next year and which is meantime giving rise to many rumors, hopes and fears." As an adjective from 1939. Nylons for "nylon stockings" is from 1940.
Nylon is the generic name chosen by the Dupont Company for a group of materials classed as synthetic linear superpolymers. It has also been defined as a "Man made protein-like chemical product (polyamide) which may be formed into fibers, bristles, sheets, and other forms, characterized when drawn by extreme toughness, elasticity, and strength." ["The Michigan Technic," August 1945]
