It was originally called "aniline purple" or "Tyrian purple", the name of an ancient natural dye got from a mollusc. In 1859, the colour got the name "mauve" in England from the French name for the mallow flower, and chemists later called it "mauveine". By 1870, the huge demand dropped when other colours were launched in the synthetic dye industry. Mauvine was the first of many.