"Acme means "pinnacle", so the name was sometimes used to symbolize the best. An early global Acme brand name was the "Acme City" whistle made from mid 1870s onwards by J Hudson & Co, followed by the "Acme Thunderer", and "Acme siren" in 1895. The name became particularly popular for businesses in the 1920s, when alphabetized business telephone directories such as the Yellow Pages began to be widespread: A name at the beginning of the alphabet would be listed first, and a name implying "the best" was even better. There was a flood of businesses named Acme; some survive to this day,"