Do YOU know what these brands are really called?

It may come as a surprise that some of the world’s biggest brands are only known by an acronym – rather than their full name.

Some are more obvious – such as H&M and B&Q – but others hide the fact well, with shoppers surprised to discover that supermarket Asda has much more to offer.

Others like IKEA, Lego and search engine Yahoo! are also known by shortened versions of their name – so much so that customers may not fully recognize it.

This is largely because the brands are named after their founders, but not always.

Without going to Google – DO YOU know what these brand names stand for?

Ikea

The Swedish furniture and meatball brand IKEA has a name that encompasses a few different details about its founder – Ingvar Kamprad.

The first two letters of the name are, of course, his initials, while the E is taken from the farm where Mr. Kamprad grew up, Elmtaryd.

The last letter from the flat pack shop is from Agunnaryd, the nearby village.

Lego

It may come as a surprise that Lego, a construction toy brand, also uses a shortened version of its name.

The Danish company took its name from the native saying “leg godt,” which translates to “toy” in English.

Not only this, but the name given to the brand by Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932 was actually The Lego Group – but it’s only ever referred to as simply Lego.

H&M

Another brand with two initials is the Swedish clothing company H&M.

The store was first known as Hennes when it opened in 1947 – a Swedish word meaning ‘Hers’ in English.

This explains where the ‘H’ comes from, but what about the ‘M’?

The second letter came from Mauritz Widfors – a hunting and fishing clothing retailer who decided to buy Hennes in 1968.

Odeon

The name of this popular cinema has more to offer than meets the eye.

Introduced in the UK in 1928, Odeon is basically an acronym. It stands for: Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation.

Oscar Deutsch was a Birmingham businessman who opened 250 cinemas in the UK in less than a decade.

it is also worth noting that ‘Odeon’ was initially a term for the amphitheatres of ancient Greece, but Mr. Deutsch decided to make it his own.

Yahoo!

This one may come as a surprise.

It turns out that search engine Yahoo! is not just an exclamation of joy – but rather a long acronym first established in 1995.

In fact, according to the company’s website, it means, “Another hierarchical official oracle.”

ASOS

ASOS is one of the largest clothing brands in the world with millions of shoppers buying the latest trends on their online platform every day.

However, many shoppers are only now realizing what the acronym stands for – and they’re shocked.

It turns out that the four letters of ASOS have no sentimental meaning.

In fact, when the outlet was found in 1999, it was intended to be a place where TV and movie fans could go to find replicas of the ensembles they’d seen on their screens.

From there, people started referring to the company as As Seen On Screen, and in 2000 it was officially named that.

So Asos *drumroll* stands for – As Seen On Screen.

Asda

Supermarket Asda is potentially the most surprising of this list.

It was created in 1965 following a merger between two companies, the family owned Asquith and Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Ltd, hence the name.

As described on the supermarket website and confirmed by a spokesman, the team chose the name Asda for the company – as it combined the ‘As’ from Asquith and the ‘Da’ from ‘Dairies’.

B&Q

For DIY enthusiasts, gardeners and home enthusiasts, B&Q is a popular place for all their essentials – but what does hardware giant B&Q’s name stand for?

Their first store was located in a disused cinema in Southampton and was originally called Block and Quayle, but this was later shortened to B&Q.

The founding partners set up the brand with the aim of offering good quality DIY products to all customers, as supplies were previously limited to DIY stores and hardware stores.

Block and Quayle each paid themselves £90 a month and worked six days a week, while customers flocked to buy cheap paint, boards and tools.

After six months they had paid off their bank loan and within five years the company had reached a turnover of £1 million.

They opened their second store in Portsmouth and the retailer expanded across the South East, establishing 26 branches by the late 1970s.

Richard left B&Q in 1976 and started growing tomatoes in the Channel Islands while David stayed, before selling to Woolworths four years later.

The retailer continued its expansion and merged with French DIY retailer Castorama to become Europe’s largest DIY retailer and also opened stores in China and Taiwan.

David Quayle died in 2010, leaving £4.4 million in his will with deeds of probate showing he had left most of his estate in trust for his second wife Chrissie and children.

The Derbyshire Times reported that Richard Block, who lived in the area, passed away this month aged 80.

B&M

Bargain hotspot B&M also has more to its name than meets the eye.

The company – which sells brand name items at low prices – was first known as Billington & Mayman – a name derived from the man behind the company, Malcolm Billington.

B&M sells a huge range of home items – from furniture to electronics and from office supplies to cleaning products – and tries to entice shoppers with deep discounts on popular items.

It’s been such a mystery that even billionaire boss Simon Arora once admitted he didn’t know what “B&M” stands for.

In an interview with the McKinsey Alumni Center, he revealed, “Someone once told me it was obvious – it stands for ‘Bargains and More.'”