Unfortunately for Cordain, "Paleo" has become the "fridgidair" of diets, in that his name for his diet has become the common name. Others, who tried to promote the same idea but failed, include Audette who came earlier with "Neanderthin".
Later folks, including one of my favorite web authors, Mark Sisson, tried their names but only succeeded in becoming addon frigidaire, as in "Paleo and Primal diets".
I was following a whole foods Atkins diet when Audette published, and even though I disagreed with some of this ideas, I took the "Neanderthal" part of the concept and tagged it in my online discussion groups at the time. I followed with various "caveman" trendy names, and even spent a while as a "carnivore" to counter a bunch of vegetarian low carbers. I used "Traditional foods" diet for a while as well as "Evolutionary diet".
I finally settled on "Pastoral" when I realized that "paleo" had become an ingroup that disdained even the smallest infraction of their endless rules. When they told me that I couldn't use "paleo" if I was using New World hot peppers, that was the last straw.
It's only been recently that I forgave the word "Paleo" for being associated with those folks. It was not "Paleo"s fault. And although I admit being Paleo, I still use Pastoral, because I still use hard cheese and garden vegetables, and because it short circuits those folks who want to tell me that the foods that cavemen ate aren't available anymore.
