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A Question About the Etymology of Cialis (yes, really)
I was watching the evening news last night and the reporter interviewed a girl named Cialis. I wondered if I had seen it correctly because I only saw it for a moment, but I found the video of the report online. She is Latina and she is a senior in high school, so she would have been named years before the medication came out. I also found another person via Facebook with the first name of Cialis and she also has a Spanish surname. I found an online interview with someone from the company that makes the medication and the person wouldn't disclose where they got the name even though the person conducting it specifically asked him. So, does anyone know anything about Cialis?
~~~~~Amanda~~~~~

Midnight stands darkly on the road,
and burdened by stars, tumbles down.
You can't step beyond your fence
without trampling the universe.
-"The Steppe" Boris Pasternak
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These days most trade names like this are made up by marketing departments precisely because the company believes that they have NO "meaning" and so the public will be able to identify the word only with the product.The Eli Lilly company may be reluctant to give out information about exactly how they came up with this name precisely because it turned out to also be a human name. Cialis is a surname found in England, France, Ireland, and Canada, at least, and if you Google "Russell Cialis" you will find many references to that particular man, a public relations consultant in England who threatened to sue the company when they refused to change the name because of possible embarrassment to his family. I would bet that the Hispanic girls named Cialis have NOT been given the surname Cialis as a name, but that their parents independently invented it, as -lis has been one of the most productive suffixes in Latin America among parents who create brand new names for daughters over the past several decades.
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Yes, I did see Cialis as a surname too and also doubted Hispanic girls were named after it. I figured it was probably a creation since I only ran across two people with the first name. I was just curious to see whether or not the name was a creation based upon a traditional name. Thanks for clearing that up.
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I agree with youCialis, as a given name, seems a composition with the suffix -lis.
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