The Maxim Silencer was the first commercially successful firearm sound suppressor. Developed by Hiram Percy Maxim (son of Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, who invented the Maxim machine gun) in tandem with the automobile muffler in the early 1900s, it was patented in 1909.
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/accessories/maxim-silencer/
Interesting to note that the man himself called it’s a silencer. Anyone who knows anything about guns has undoubtedly seen someone say “silencer” and then some super giga Chad corrects them and says “uh actually it’s a suppressor”.
It’s important to tell these Chads that you’ve played Goldeneye and you know it goes pzew-pzew!
I ended up going down a wikipedia hole because I was curious about the inventor also making a car muffler, and it looks like it might be a regional thing. Sort of. Like, we’re trying to make it one.
Originally, everyone called them silencers, but apparently “suppressor” started to gain traction in the US in the late '80s. Since then, most American firearms groups have picked up the newer term, including the ASA (formerly American Silencer Association, now American Suppressor Association); meanwhile Britain is starting to adopt the term “sound moderator.” Neither term is really wrong, per se, it’s mainly a matter of preference.
As a side note, it turns out that Maxim’s company is still around! It looks like they only make the boring kind of silencer, though.
I was told that if it’s small caliber like .22 it’s a silencer because it really is silent (you only hear the bolt cycle) and if it’s a large caliber it’s a suppressor because it doesn’t silence the report, only suppresses most of it.
It’s an entirely arbitrary distinction with no formal guidelines.
“Suppressor” is primarily pushed online as a kind of softer term to rebrand “silencers” from sounding less scary. In the same way that “modern sporting rifle” has been (mostly unsuccessfully) pushed as a rebranding of more scary terms for semi-auto, detachable mag rifles.
It’s all word games.
As far as I’m concerned “silencer” is perfectly acceptable. It’s the term on numerous patents, term used in the nomenclature or even names of companies in the industry, and the term used in the stamp application. If somebody tries to “correct” you, realize that “silencer” is essentially an aspirational term for the device and always has been.
In reality they’re just interchangeable terms. Suppressor is increasingly popular because the term silencer can be seen as misleading (as it doesn’t make them silent just less loud). IMO use either or both, people will know what you’re talking about either way.