Laszlo Biro, a Hungarian Jew, invented the Biro (pronounced "by roe" in English). Had he not had to flee the Nazis, he would have made a Bill Gates style fortune, but instead had to flee to Argentina. He sold Biros to the Royal Air Force, which is probably why the name stuck in England. A Frenchman, Marcel Bich, bought his French patent and produced them under the Bic trade name. Presumably he was fed up of people calling him Biche, which is the meaning of what a lot of people call dried- up biros. It's a good job Dean Koontz didn't make them.

What happened to Macfisheries, who had Mac things long before the other lot had Mc things?