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The only reason it’s called ‘Aluminum’ in the US is that name was popularised in the Webster’s dictionary in the US as he took the name that marketers were using at the time (as they thought it sounded fancy like Platinum). Prior to that it was widely called ‘Aluminium’ in the US as well as the rest of the world - as it was the dominant name scientifically, and nobody else used it as it wasn’t widely commercially used.

This is all on Wikipedia, dunno why people feel the need to make up their own stories every single time this comes up, but it does make us laugh.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Spelling

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Wilco@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
From the Wikipedia page you linked;

Davy suggested the metal be named alumium in 1808[30] and aluminum in 1812, thus producing the modern name.[29] Other scientists used the spelling aluminium

The name Aluminium never caught on in the US. It appeared in a few books and was in a dictionary, but so we’re words like Soop (for Soup) and greef (for grief). These did not catch on, Americans just kept using Aluminum. Webster wanted to standardize words … but nobody wanted to use dawter instead of daughter. They did stop using “Gaol” and used Jail instead.

The word history was “alumium” in 1807, then changed to “aluminum” in 1808. It was not changed to “aluminium” until 1812

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- pulsewidth@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Edited my comment for more clarity. But the etymology of the spelling is all in the Wikipedia article if you’d just read that small ‘spelling’ section instead of stopping when you feel you’ve read something that backs your point. It was 100% driven by American marketers, not “Brits changing their minds”.
  
  […] in 1892, Hall used the Aluminum spelling in his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal, despite his constant use of the Aluminium spelling in all the patents he filed between 1886 and 1903. It is unknown whether this spelling was introduced by mistake or intentionally, but Hall preferred aluminum since its introduction because it resembled platinum, the name of a prestigious metal.[141] By 1890, both spellings had been common in the United States, the -ium spelling being slightly more common; by 1895, the situation had reversed; by 1900, aluminum had become twice as common as aluminium; in the next decade, the -um spelling dominated American usage. In 1925, the American Chemical Society adopted this spelling.[135]
  
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  - Wilco@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    It is what it is. The US did not accept the THIRD name change. No one really knew about the first name. Aluminium appeared in the fucking dictionary … but the US population ignored it and stayed with the second name.
    
    Wikipedia is just citing old books … the same old books people disregarded when they refused to use the new weird name.
    
    Webster was an idiot and was trying to change hundreds of words and the population just wasn’t having it. “Soop” instead of “Soup” was literally forced on the public, Aluminium, Dawter … do we use those? No.
    
    Wikipedia is simply wrong. Both spellings were never equally used. Even your post confirms this, the dudes patent said “Aluminium”, but he used Aluminum instead because he liked it. This is how it was everywhere.
    
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    pulsewidth@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Ahh yes, Wikipedia is wrong, books on aluminium and scientific naming are also wrong, evidence…? trust me bro. Once again you keep the parts from Wikipedia you like, but discard facts counter to your point.
    
    What’s the point in engaging further, we’ve reached peak comedy. 👌
    
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