In the 19th century it had well over 40 different common names in English alone. Some of the more whimsical ones included "hig candlewick", "indian rag weed", "bullicks lungwort", "Adams-rod", "hare's-beard" and "ice-leaf". Vernacular names include innumerable references to the plant's hairiness: "woolly mullein", "velvet mullein" or "blanket mullein", "beggar's blanket", "Moses' blanket", "poor man's blanket", "Our Lady's blanket" or "old man's blanket", and "feltwort", and so on ("flannel" is another common generic name). "Mullein" itself derives from the French word for "soft".