There are plenty of high street shops we see every day that trip off the tongue without thinking about it.

Lot’s of businesses use acronyms or intialisms, but many of us don’t know what those initials actually stand for.

Some are easy to figure out – KFC of course stands for Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is what the fast food chain was referred to as until the 1990s, reports Wales Online.

What do they stand for? If anything?

Here is a list of brands and companies which use acronyms and initialisms and the history behind them.

asos - as seen on screen

The global fashion brand and online megastore started life in 1999 as a supplier of unbranded clothes to celebrities on TV and the idea was people could find clothes and accessories they had seen celebs wearing.

Before long people started referring to AsSeenOnScreen as ASOS and in late 2000 the domain name was bought.

B&M - Billington and Mayman

Bargains and More would really suffice but it actually stands for Billington & Mayman as it was set up by Malcolm Billington but shortened to B&M for Bargain Madness. Set up in 1978 - Billington remained the company director until 1996.

B&Q - Block & Quayle

Block & Quayle actually sound a like a deep house duo who will do a 6-hour b2b set in room 2 at The Warehouse Project. Richard Block and David Quayle are the founders of B&Q. Their joint business venture began after they purchased and fitted out a former furniture warehouse in a Southampton suburb.


C&A - Clemens and August

C&A arguably has a reputation for being Cheap and Awful but C&A still has many retail stores in Europe despite there being none left in the UK anymore after the last closed in 2001. The company was founded by brothers Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer in 1841 as a Dutch textile company before moving into clothes in the 1900s.

H&M - Hennes & Mauritz AB

H&M is Swedish and was founded all the way back in 1947, although back then it was just known as Hennes. Originally the store sold exclusively women’s clothing but when hunting apparel retailer Mauritz Widforss was acquired, men’s wear was also included. The first UK store opened in London in 1976 - this was also the first store to be built outside of Scandinavia.

HSBC - The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation

Houses, Shoes, Boats and Cars are just some of the things you can buy if you take out a giant loan at HSBC but sadly that’s not what it stands for.


IKEA - Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd

Set up in 1943 by a 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad in Almhult, Sweden as a mostly mail-order sales business. It wasn’t until after the Second World War that it began to sell furniture. The first physical store opened in Almhult in 1958 before expanding to Europe in the 1970s and the UK in the 80s.


Lego - Leg Godt

Lego is a Danish company which gets its name from the Danish saying ‘leg godt’ which translates to ‘play well’’ in English - which would make it a portmanteau really, rather than an acronym and initialism.



Odeon - Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation

The Odeon was first introduced to Britain in 1928 and not many people know that the famous cinema brand is in fact an acronym. The cinema chain now has over 100 cinemas and 850 screens.

Oscar Deutsch was a British businessman born in Birmingham. Nine years after he opened his first cinema in 1928, there were already 250 Odeons across the UK.

The word 'odeon' was originally a term for the amphitheatres of ancient Greece, but Deutsch made the term his own.

QVC - Quality Value Convenience

Probably the easiest to guess as it sums up the service the shopping channel provides. Although it can be argued that in 2017 the internet is much more convenient than having to observe a TV channel waiting for a deal to pop up.
