Why do chemicals like shampoo and soap ingredients have such crazy long names? How are the names developed?

Question

For example, my kids J&J baby wash has ingredients like cocamidopropyl, pentaerythrityl tetrastearate, and ethylhexylglycerine.

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

Those are chemical names. They are standardized by IUPAC (international Union of pure and applied chemistry) to uniquely identify a chemical and be reasonably descriptive. They describe class of chemicals, their structure, distinguishing characteristics etc.