Carbonium ion" has a familiar ring to most chemists, who are likely to think of a species, usually short-lived, with a positive charge on carbon. The concept of a cation with charge on carbon has been central to organic reaction mechanisms, and its development is linked to some of the most prominent chemists who have worked in this area. Usage of the name has changed several times, however, since it was introduced in 1902. A review of the history of this name reveals how a chemical term may emerge, become popular in a different context, lose its precision, and fall from popularity. It illuminates the care required in the development and use of chemical nomenclature.Comprehension of some of the points to be made will be aided by recall of the basic IUPAC rule about spacing in names of organic compounds. Ethyl alcohol (radicofunctional nomenclature) has a space between parts of the name, because alcohol is a functional class name, not the name of any compound. Ethylsilane (substitutive nomenclature) has no space, because silane (SiH () is the parent compound that has a substituent, ethyl. Carbonium ion has been used in both radicofunctional and substitutive names, not always with care about spacing. In German, the spacing does not appear anyway.The term carboniumion first appeared in the chemical literature in early 1902 in an article on color theory by Adolf Baeyer and Victor Villiger (1). Baeyer and Villiger attempted to explain the color that developed when triphenylmethanol was mixed with sulfuric acid or triphenylmethyl chloride with aluminum chloride. They likened these reactions to salt formation from metal hydroxides and likened the carbon center to the metal: natrium-carbonium. The designation carbonium was apparently intended merely to convey that metal-like behavior: carbon-ium. (The strong favor toward Latin words at that time in Germany may have led to that choice instead of Kohlenstoffium for the new term.) Baeyer and Villiger did not use a formula representation for the carboniumsalze, and the term was used only in the generic sense. That is, it was not used as part of the name of any specific substance. The focus was clearly on the metal analogy. The originating authors used the terms carboniumsalze, carboniumnitrate, and Carboniumund Oxonium-Salze.A couple of months later, extensive studies of