“Hennes” means “hers” in Swedish, reflecting the women’s clothing focus of H&M’s original business.
Erling Persson founded the company in Västerås, Sweden, in 1947 under the name Hennes. The store sold women’s clothing, and the name literally conveyed that the merchandise was for women. This predates the company’s later expansion into men’s and children’s fashion.
In 1968, Persson acquired the hunting and fishing retailer Mauritz Widforss. That purchase brought men’s clothing into the business and led to the name Hennes & Mauritz, commonly shortened to H&M. The “M” therefore comes from Mauritz, while “Hennes” remains part of the company’s historical name.
A common mix-up is to treat Hennes as a person’s name or an acronym. It is instead a Swedish word meaning “hers.”