What Does M&M Stand For?

What does M&M stand for? Two last names

The ampersand in the middle is the symbol for "and," so the name reads "Mars and Murrie." Brands built from founders' names or initials are common, and the brand name acronyms section has many more, such as A&W, which also joins two surnames with an ampersand.

How the candy and the name began

Forrest Mars is often said to have gotten the idea after seeing soldiers eat chocolate pellets covered in a hard sugar shell during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. The shell kept the chocolate from melting in warm weather, which made it easy to carry.

Mars brought in Bruce Murrie as a partner, in part because Murrie's family connections helped secure chocolate during a time when ingredients such as sugar and cocoa were scarce. Production started in Newark, New Jersey, in 1941. During World War II, the candies were sold to the US military, since they held up well in soldiers' rations. After the war they became a mainstream treat. Murrie left the business in the 1940s, and Mars bought out his share, but the two Ms stayed on the package.

The little m on each piece

Each candy is printed with a small lowercase m. The mark was added after the war, partly so buyers could tell the real product from copies. It is the same brand initial, just printed on the candy itself. The candy shell, the printed m and the double M name together make the brand easy to recognize, even without the full words.

Saying and writing M&M

People say "em and em," and in the plural "em and ems." The company writes the name as M&M's, with a capital M on each side, an ampersand and an apostrophe before the s. In casual writing, M&Ms without the apostrophe is common, and both are understood. Some people write "M and M," but that is less usual. The letter M is said "em," so one piece is "an M&M."

• "There is one green M&M left in the bowl."
• "We used M&M's to decorate the cookies."
• "She sorted the M&Ms by color for a math lesson."

M&M in medicine and other uses

In hospitals, M&M means morbidity and mortality, a regular meeting where doctors review cases that had complications or poor outcomes to learn from them. Morbidity refers to illness or complications and mortality to death. A resident saying "I am presenting at M&M" means this case review, not candy. Outside medicine and snacks, M&M can also be anyone's initials, such as a business named after two partners. For other short forms with an ampersand, see R&B.