A Proper Name?
Before the drink, some people did have a last name of Moxie. And some people had it as a nickname.1876: Moxie Tonic Created
. Dr. Augustin Thompson, the inventor of Moxie, claimed it was made from a South American root by a "Lieutenant Moxie", who was widely considered to be made up.1887: What's That Spike?
Starting in 1886, there is a spike of "moxie" mentions for several years.
What happened? Well, 1886 was the year Coca-Cola was introduced. Could it be that people started discussing sodas and their rivalries? Or is our search picking up a lot of Moxie advertising to counter the Coca-Cola threat?
1897: Self-promotion
A PR flack writes a puff piece in The National saying "[t]he echo of 'You've got a Moxie Nerve' is a part of American history. It is an expression that indicates the spirit of the times." Despite this, Merriam-Webster says it didn't establish as an adjective until around 1930.1900: Nicknames On The Rise
At the turn of the century, we see many cases of "Moxie" as a male nickname. One tragic example is Moxie Rosenberg, a San Francisco boy burned in a house fire.