It is from this version of the city's name that the terms Brum and Brummie are derived. The former refers to the city itself, and is a generally affectionate term used by locals. The latter refers to inhabitants of the city, their accent and dialect, and frequently to West Midlands accents in general (though not in the West Midlands itself where distinctions are made between Brummie and the accent of the Black Country, for example).

The word was also used extensively to mean a cheap and shoddy imitation, in particular when referring to mass-produced goods (see discussion below).

The word briefly passed into political slang in the 1680s. The supporters of the Exclusion Bill were described as Brummagems, on the grounds that they were "sham Protestants"; the Tory opponents were the anti-Birminghams or anti-Brummagems.

Around 1690 Alexander Missen, visiting bromichan town in his travels, said that "swords, heads of canes, snuff-boxes, and other fine works of steel," could be had, "cheaper and better here than even in famed Milan."

In 1691 The author of The New State of England says "Bromichan drives a good trade in iron and steel wares, saddles and bridles, which find good vent at London, Ireland, and other parts." By another writer, "Bromicham" is described as "a large and well-built town, very populous, much resorted to, and particularly noted a few years ago for the counterfeit groats made here, and dispersed all oven the kingdom".

In 1731 An old "Road-book" of this date, says that "Birmingham, Bromicham, or Bremicham, is a large town, well built and populous. The inhabitants, being mostly smiths, are very ingenious in their way, and vend vast quantities of all sorts of iron wares."

In 1750 the "England's Gazetteer," published about this date describes Birmingham or Bromichan as "a large, well-built, and populous town, noted for the most ingenious artificers in boxes, buckles, buttons, and other iron and steel wares; wherein such multitudes of people are employed that they are sent all over Europe; and here is a continual noise of hammers, anvils, and files."

While the term was originally used purely as a name for Birmingham, the groats mentioned in the 1691 account brought about a secondary meaning of "counterfeit". This pejorative use of the word also came to be applied to "Brummagem ware", the cheap mass-produced goods manufactured in the city, and by the 19th century "Brummagem" had become a generalised description of anything cheap and shoddy which appeared to be better than it was, a usage found in most modern dictionaries.

In fact, Birmingham was one of the world's largest industrial cities, and produced a huge variety of goods within areas such as the Jewellery Quarter and Gun Quarter. Many of these were of fine quality, intended for an increasingly affluent western world. As a by-product of the more professional jewellery tradesmen of the city a skilled but cheaper mass consumer market for foreign exports thrived, and it was often difficult to distinguish between genuine and fake due to the expertise of the craftsmen of the the age. Costume jewellery, imitation gems, and other produce of the Jewellery Quarter were particularly renowned for their abundance.