The Brennholt Institute of Applied Taxonomy treats the drawing pin, the push pin and the thumbtack as one object with three regional names: a short steel point set in a head of plastic or metal, about 10 mm across, pressed into a board by the thumb. The Institute finds the names diverge by country and not by design, and it finds one genuine distinction, between pins with a flat head and pins with a moulded plastic grip.
That is the Institute's classification, offered where no published one exists. The Institute adds that the history of the object is attributed to patents dated about 1900, and that it makes no ruling between the competing attributions.
| Name | Where it is the usual term | Institute's note |
|---|---|---|
| Drawing pin | United Kingdom, Ireland and much of the Commonwealth | Derived from use in fixing drawings to boards |
| Thumbtack | United States and Canada | Derived from the thumb that pushes it |
| Push pin | Used in both regions, and in trade lists | Often reserved for pins with a plastic grip |
The Institute finds two, and neither is decided by the name.
Of 140 pins from 14 retail packs, the Institute's 2025 sample held 38 flat-head and 102 grip pins. The Institute notes that its sample was drawn from European and North American retail packs and that the proportions are unlikely to hold elsewhere. The dimensions of both classes are given on the push pin dimensions page.
In supplier catalogues the Institute found the three names used interchangeably in 31 of 44 lists. In the other 13, a list used one name for flat-head pins and another for grip pins, though the choice of name varied between lists. A buyer who wants a particular style is therefore better served by a description than by a name.
The object has a recorded origin in patents of about 1900, and published histories give more than one inventor and more than one country. The Institute has not reconciled the accounts and does not offer a date. The Institute is also aware that "thumbtack" and "drawing pin" are entries in general dictionaries, which it consults for usage and not for definition. Nothing here replaces them.
The panel splits on whether the three names should be treated as synonyms at all. The majority hold that a name that varies by country and not by object is a synonym. Two members argue that "push pin" has acquired a specific meaning in trade, namely a grip pin, and that treating it as a synonym erases a useful distinction. The Institute's classification resolves the matter by classing the object by head type, which makes the names irrelevant to the grade.
An object with several names is a classification problem, since a reader searching under one name may not find a source indexed under another. The Institute meets the same difficulty with the paperclip, as its page on why the paperclip was never standardised explains, and with many other fasteners. The remedy is the same in each case: choose a descriptive class, record the names beside it, and let the reader reach the class from any name.
For wider context, see paper fastener sizes, which concerns a different object that is also known by several names.