What is the '7' in 7UP? We'll never know for sure. The soft drink's creator, Charles Leiper Grigg, went to the grave without ever revealing where he got the name. But there are several interesting rumors regarding its origin.
When Grigg introduced his drink in October 1929, it had neither a '7' nor an 'UP' in its name. He called it 'Bib-label Lithiated Lemon-lime Soda.' Imagine trying to order that bad boy from a Taco Bell drive-through! Bib-label Lithiated Lemon-lime Soda is perhaps the single worst name for a soft drink in soda history. How did he come up with this extraordinarily crummy name?