In 1808, when English chemist Sir Humphry Davy first named the element, he proposed alumium. He later amended the name to aluminum, which Noah Webster included in his first dictionary and which has ever since been the American English standard. British editors, however, added an i to coin aluminium, which they thought sounded more classical (since it rhymes better with other -ium elements, like sodium and potassium) and which has ever since been the British English standard.