Where did the word "binky" come from?

Hey, Matt:

Was the apparently universal word "binky" just some anonymous, orally fixated infant's cute term for a pacifier or a trade name cooked up by some anonymous, orally fixated ad executive?

-- Mark in Normal Heights

The board of directors of Worldwide Alice LLC is proud to say we've never heard the word binky before. Guess we don't hang around with enough babies or ravers. But in the interest of scholarship, we poked around in our big bag o' facts and determined that Binky is a trademarked name, now belonging to Playtex, for a line of pacifiers: the Binky Firm Comfort, the Binky Gel Filled, and the Binky Newborn Orthodontic. I guess "Binky" was just too icky cutesy to resist, so it's now the "Xerox" and "Kleenex" of the babygoods world. The Playtex attorneys would appreciate it if, from now on, we'd say, "Hey, man, here, take my Binky-brand Firm Comfort pacifier. You've got this rad jaw thing going on. You're beautiful, man. I love you. Let's dance." The Worldwide Alice board of directors has added "binky" to the list of words never to be used again in the office, along with "comfort zone," "personal space," and "closure."