What trade group popularized the term "avocado" in 1915?

The California Avocado Association popularized the term “avocado” in 1915.

The name was not always the dominant English term in the United States. Before 1915, California commonly used “ahuacate,” while Florida often used “alligator pear.” The California Avocado Association helped promote “avocado” as a more consistent market name, giving the fruit a label that was easier to standardize in a growing commercial industry.

The association was founded in 1915 and later became the California Avocado Society in 1941. That name change can create confusion in historical questions: the 1915 organization and the modern society are connected, but the stored answer correctly identifies the association’s name at the time the term was popularized.

The word itself has much older roots. English “avocado” developed through Spanish aguacate, which came from the Nahuatl word āhuacatl. Earlier English forms included “avogato pear” and “avocado pear,” while “alligator pear” remained in use in some regions. Thus, the 1915 event concerns commercial popularization in the United States, not the invention of the word or the fruit’s original name.