H&M’s original store name when Erling Persson founded it in 1947 was Hennes.
The store opened in Västerås, Sweden, as a women’s fashion retailer. “Hennes” is Swedish for “hers,” making the name a direct reference to the store’s original focus on women’s clothing. The business was designed around fashionable products sold at relatively low prices.
The name changed after Persson acquired Mauritz Widforss in 1968. Mauritz Widforss was a Stockholm retailer associated with men’s clothing and hunting equipment. Following the acquisition, the company became Hennes & Mauritz, reflecting its move into menswear as well as the continuing Hennes business.
A common mix-up is to treat Hennes as an abbreviation or a person’s name. It was neither: it was a Swedish possessive word describing the intended customer and product focus. H&M is the shortened form of the later corporate name.