Pepper Naming

Tybo

Tybo

There was a thread recently about help naming a pepper.  It is located further down on the Hot Pepper Talk page.
 
I got to wondering about what is required to officially "name" a pepper.  Just for example:  Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion and many others, Khang Starr has the KS Lemon Starburst, Starracha Hornet and many others.  
 
Are these names official?  Are they registered somewhere?  If so, what is the procedure for making it official?
 
Not that I have anything to offer but I was just wondering.  I must be bored on this Labor Day.
 
 
Those names aren’t "official" in any way TMK.  They’re just what someone named a variety.  
 
As to "officially" naming peppers:
 
Trademark law may (rarely) apply, but the requirements of trademark are legal and require no uniqueness or distinctness of the pepper.  They're simply a means of identifying the source of goods being sold.  Sometimes they are used as names though and sometimes they even overtake the actual generic name in the public eye though, like Frisbee, Kleenex, and Q-Tip and such.
 
Scientific names are given by an “author” who publishes the description in a recognized scientific journal. Usually this is the person who discovered the variety to be sufficiently unique from other previously discovered and identified varieties. 
 
Cultivar names, in order to be what is termed "valid," require that the naming follow the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants - more info on that here if you're really bored this Labor Day -  http://www.anbg.gov.au/chah/avh/help/names/index.html#cultivar
 
So, what we're likely dealing with here is common names
 
Common names are just what people happen to call a variety and a variety can have multiple common names. Anyone who wants can try to establish a common name as they are informal and have no requirements. Any variety can have multiple common names and a common name can apply to multiple varieties.
 
I (personally) think what matters when someone tries to give a common name to a variety is that they have somehow found or created something sufficiently different and taken reasonable steps to ensure it is reasonably stable (perhaps an F8 selective isolated grow-out or better).  Usually this is done by crossing multiple varieties as the starting point. Until it's stable, it's an A x B (FX).
 
Sometimes people grow a variety for a long time and put it through a process of selection resulting in new characteristics or better suitability to a particular growing environment.  Done long enough to stabilize distinctness (and done properly) it seems reasonable one might give the result a new name – although in these cases I personally like the naming convention where the grower's name is added to the existing name better than a completely new name, e.g., Joe's Peach Bhut.  During the stabilization process one might refer to this simply as Peach Bhut (FX).
 
I think some people get too excited about given a variety their own cool name or want to have something out there that's somehow "theirs" and name a pepper that isn’t materially different than what is was when they got it or make a cross and name it way too early when it's unstable.  Properly stabilizing takes a lot of time and effort. 
 
So, my personal “rules” (for whatever they're worth) are to create something that would reasonably be considered “new” and make sure it’s stable before you give it a name.
 
 
CaneDog said:
Those names aren’t "official" in any way TMK.  They’re just what someone named a variety.  
 
As to "officially" naming peppers:
 
Trademark law may (rarely) apply, but the requirements of trademark are legal and require no uniqueness or distinctness of the pepper.  They're simply a means of identifying the source of goods being sold.  Sometimes they are used as names though and sometimes they even overtake the actual generic name in the public eye though, like Frisbee, Kleenex, and Q-Tip and such.
 
 
So, my personal “rules” (for whatever they're worth) are to create something that would reasonably be considered “new” and make sure it’s stable before you give it a name.
Click to expand...
 
As usual well thought out and post CaneDog!
 
Tybo said:
Are these names official?  Are they registered somewhere?  If so, what is the procedure for making it official?
Click to expand...
 
There is a little known trademark outfit, JUSTICA Trademarks, that trademarked Carolina Reaper with details here.> CAROLINA REAPER - Trademark Details
 
Hope this helps!
 
If you cross two peppers together, then you should be able to call it something, that way you don't have to type so much when you mention it lol.

I've been calling this bhut jolokia x yellow brain strain from White hot peppers Bhutstrain. Mainly because I like the way it sounds if your in the camp that pronounces it butt instead of boot lol. I could see how if I started tying to sell it, or act like I created something, then that would be pretty messed up. But I really like all of the phenos ive had so far, and I plan on growing them out again next year, Bhutstrain#1#2 and #3. I'm pretty sure Justin names some of his peppers, like swamp thing, and it makes it easier for us to remember then if he just called it whp042 or whatever. At least for me, I have a hard time remembering stuff like that.

Bhuters 7pot Cinder I feel like is deserving of the name, because he bred it and selected his preferred phenotypes over time. And when you hear the name, you know they are talking about Adam's genetics.

And if you are tradmarking your name, like carolina reaper, then you are obviously just in it for the money, and can find a way to legally get around any problems you have by spending some money.
 
CaneDog said:
Those names aren’t "official" in any way TMK.  They’re just what someone named a variety.  
 
As to "officially" naming peppers:
 
Trademark law may (rarely) apply, but the requirements of trademark are legal and require no uniqueness or distinctness of the pepper.  They're simply a means of identifying the source of goods being sold.  Sometimes they are used as names though and sometimes they even overtake the actual generic name in the public eye though, like Frisbee, Kleenex, and Q-Tip and such.
 
Scientific names are given by an “author” who publishes the description in a recognized scientific journal. Usually this is the person who discovered the variety to be sufficiently unique from other previously discovered and identified varieties. 
 
Cultivar names, in order to be what is termed "valid," require that the naming follow the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants - more info on that here if you're really bored this Labor Day -  http://www.anbg.gov.au/chah/avh/help/names/index.html#cultivar
 
So, what we're likely dealing with here is common names
 
Common names are just what people happen to call a variety and a variety can have multiple common names. Anyone who wants can try to establish a common name as they are informal and have no requirements. Any variety can have multiple common names and a common name can apply to multiple varieties.
 
I (personally) think what matters when someone tries to give a common name to a variety is that they have somehow found or created something sufficiently different and taken reasonable steps to ensure it is reasonably stable (perhaps an F8 selective isolated grow-out or better).  Usually this is done by crossing multiple varieties as the starting point. Until it's stable, it's an A x B (FX).
 
Sometimes people grow a variety for a long time and put it through a process of selection resulting in new characteristics or better suitability to a particular growing environment.  Done long enough to stabilize distinctness (and done properly) it seems reasonable one might give the result a new name – although in these cases I personally like the naming convention where the grower's name is added to the existing name better than a completely new name, e.g., Joe's Peach Bhut.  During the stabilization process one might refer to this simply as Peach Bhut (FX).
 
I think some people get too excited about given a variety their own cool name or want to have something out there that's somehow "theirs" and name a pepper that isn’t materially different than what is was when they got it or make a cross and name it way too early when it's unstable.  Properly stabilizing takes a lot of time and effort. 
 
So, my personal “rules” (for whatever they're worth) are to create something that would reasonably be considered “new” and make sure it’s stable before you give it a name.
 
Click to expand...
 
 
If you follow the convention you referenced then interspecific hybrids, hybrids with more than one species such as Capsicum 'Wartryx' could simply be accurately reflected with this name given that Capsicum 'Wartryx is a hybrid with Capsicum baccatum 'Ubatuba Cambucci' genetics.
 
Alternately, Wartryx could be annotated as Capsicum x 'Wartryx' given that what we know about Capsicum 'Wartryx' being a hybrid with C. baccatum 'Ubatuba Cambucci' genetics.
 
I find it strangely odd that in the pepper world people will mix different species together and rather than claim they have an interspecific hybrid.... which would be true, you will see that the vendors will often simply refer to it as a species as if it had been discovered out in the wild and  its hybrid nature was in question.
 
You don't see that in the daylily world folks. People are serious about their interspecific hybrids and they won't claim they have a species of any sort when they know they have an interspecific hybrid of 2 or more species.
 
When are we going to get serious about our peppers and start calling them for what they are?
 
If you have a known interspecific hybrid between two or more species.... It is simply Capsicum 'Wartryx' or Capsicum 'Wartryx'
 
Of course, you can get fancy and list a cross out as Capsicum chinense 'Datil' x C. baccatum 'Omnicolor' if you want to show the entire cross and it is known that these two are in fact species and not interspecific hybrids.
 
Everyone wants to give a pepper a name just because they crossed it. The truth is, you might be giving a name to a cross you are never personally going to stabilize or make breed true.
 
You can get many different phenotypes out of an f2 grow out. That f1 being relatively stable, if the parents were truly stable and true breeding, can be sold and you will see them sold frequently. That is why we can buy C. annuum 'Biker Billy' f1 each year and we can do so with confidence we will get the same pepper we grew out the year before.
 
cmpman1974 said:
Sorry but I don't believe at all Wartryx has any baccatum genes in it. 
 
Chris
Click to expand...
I've seen it said that Wartryx has C. baccatum 'Bishops Hat' as well, so whether it is C. baccatum 'Ubatuba Cambucci or the other is up for debate depending on which vendors site you go to. One thing is for certain, not many care enough to get to the bottom of it.
 
My favorite though is when a vendor tried to say Bishops Hat and Ubatuba Cambucci was the same chili pepper and there was no difference between the two. That same vendor also said he was selling relabeled Red Jigsaw peppers as Mustard C3P0 mind you so there is that... 
 
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