Chocolate lovers delight after learning how M&M’s got their name

Chocolate lovers have been left baffled after learning the story behind M&M’s and what the brand name actually stands for.

Claire Dinhut, who is from the US but living in London, took to TikTok to explain the M&M ‘family drama’.

She revealed the chocolate’s name stands for Mars and Murrie after chocolate heirs and business collaborators Forrest Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie.

Bruce was the son of Hershey executive William Murrie, while Forrest was the son of Mars founder, Frank C. Mars.

In a clip, which racked up nearly 9,000 likes, she revealed that the story started when Forrest E. Mars fell out with his dad, the original owner of Mars. 

She said: ‘My most fun candy history fact is M&M and why it is called M&M, basically there is so much family drama here and its so juicy, it’s so good. 

‘The Mars company started before Hershey’s by this guy and his son was really good at coming up with chocolate bars.’

She went onto explain that the son visited Europe where he reportedly spotted people enjoying chocolate covered in candy coating.

Not wanting to share his idea with his dad when he planned to bring the idea to the US, he turned to his family’s rival, Hershey’s.

She continued: ‘He goes to Hershey’s and he’s like I am the son of Mars but I don’t want to give it to my father, let’s just work together.

‘The guy who is running Hershey’s, his last name is Murrie, he was like sure but you have to work with my son. So they worked together and created these little candies.’

Claire went onto reveal that together with the son of Hershey executive he created M&M’s, and the pair decided to name the brand after themselves. 

She revealed the chocolates iconic name stands for Mars and Murrie after chocolate heirs and business collaborators Forrest Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie

She said: ‘They called them Mars, like the first guy’s last name, and Murrie the second guy’s last name, M&M.’ 

She also claimed: : ‘The reason it all popped off is they created it right before World War Two and in World War Two they made this deal with the government that in every soldier’s bag were M&M’s.’ 

The History website explains: ‘After the U.S. entered the war, the candies were exclusively sold to the military, enabling the heat-resistant and easy-to-transport chocolate to be included in American soldiers’ rations.

Many were fascinated with the interesting history of the popular chocolate with people rushing to the comments to leave their thoughts 

‘By the time the war was over and GIs returned home, they were hooked.’

M&Ms didn’t have their signature ‘M’ stamp until 1950 and customers were encouraged to ‘Look for the M on every piece’ to ensure they were getting the real thing.

Many were fascinated with the interesting history of the popular chocolate. 

One person wrote: ‘Ohh boy was I invested.’ Another said: ‘Love food history.’

While someone else said: ‘Now this is history I’m interested in.’