Mortician is another late 19th c. word, which first appeared in an advertisement for burial services. A 1915 entry said the word is a "recent inovation due to a need felt by undertakers for a word in keeping and more descriptive of their calling." (OED)

In 1863, Hawthorne said "'caskets' is a vile modern phrase which compels a person to shrink from the idea of being buried at all." (OED)

In the U. S. and Canada, both mortician and undertaker and both coffin and casket are in common usage.

These, and other terms, may result from members of various occupations trying to glorify their callings. Political Correctness is bringing about more of these replacements, esp. in the U. S.; e. g. the word 'garbageman' is being replaced by 'sanitary' worker or similar euphemism.