I was wondering just off the the of my head the other day how some food products came by the names that they now have. Things like “Mr. Big” chocolate bars and “Ruffles” chips are self-explanatory, but I was wondering about stuff like:
-Kit-Kat
-Snickers
-Mars
-7UP
-Oh Henry
Any facts on the origin of these names?
If anyone can think of anything else with ambiguous names, post them here too…
From Henryvo.com:
*While girls seemed to predominate, at least one chocolate bar was named for a young man. The fellow in question was a frequent visitor at George Williamson’s Chicago candy shop, where he liked to flirt with the candymakers. He showed up so often, in fact, that the women began asking him to do odd jobs, inevitably starting their requests with “Oh, Henry.” When Williamson needed a name for a new candy bar (Baby Ruth’s rival) in 1921, Oh Henry! came easily to mind. *
That’s actually a really neat story, for such a lackluster chocolate.
Thanks! 
I hate to double post, but it seems to be a slow night, so here you go.
About the Kit Kat:
Kit Kat was never originally called Kit Kat. The chocolate crisp bar was made and originally launched in London and the South East of England in September 1935, and was called Rowntree’s Chocolate Crisp. It only became ‘Kit Kat’ in 1937, two years before the Second World War. Kit Kat was supposedly named after the Kit Kat club, an 18th Century Whig literary club. As the building had very low ceilings, it could only accommodate paintings, which were wide and not very high. In the art world, these paintings were known as ‘kats’. It’s believed that Kit Kat derived its name from paintings, which had to be snapped off to fit into the rooms with the low ceilings.
From Kit Kat dot co dot UK.
About 7UP:
*Where did the name 7 UP come from?
Nobody knows, but here are a couple of theories:
There are (or were) seven ingredients in 7Up.
The original 7Up bottle was seven ounces.
Mr. Grigg saw a cattle brand that looked like 7 Up, and he liked it enough to name his soda after it.
Mr. Grigg named his new soda after a popular card game at the time that was also called 7up. *
From www.sodamuseum.bigstep.com.
About Mars bars:
Mars bars are named after the company that produces them, M&M Mars. Guess what other popular candy they produce. 
The company’s name was in turn named after the Mars family, who created such confections as the Milky Way bar and the Three Musketeers bar.
[Various sources]
Hope I helped.
Snickers, IIRC, was named after a horse that belonged to the candy company owner. If I can scare up any details, I’ll post them.
R
Here we go. From http://www.mmmars.com/cai/snickers/faq.html :
Where does the name SNICKERS® come from?
SNICKERS® was named after the Mars family’s favorite horse.
RR
Although a Mars Bar is like a Snickers but with almonds, am I correct in my impression that “mars bar” in Britain is the generic term for chocolote bar?
Huh! These are kinda neat little facts! I bet the namesake to “Oh Henry” must have been tickled about the idea of it.
Assuming the story is true. :rolleyes:
No. In Britain, a Mars bar is what is called a Milky Way (I think) in America.
No, in the US and UK the Mars bar is essentailly the same (except for “localization” - perhaps the UK one has slightly creamier chocolate?)
Here in Oz we have both Mars Bars and Milky Ways. A Milky Way is the poor cousin of the Mars Bar - no nuts, no gooey caramel. It’s just chocolate around fudge-like stuff.
Not according to the wikipedia:
The UK (non-almond) variety is also ubiquitously available in the rest of Europe as ‘Mars Bar’, whereas ‘Almond Mars’ is more rare.
(There’s also something called ‘Milky Way’, but apparently the European version of that is closer to what is sold in US as ‘Three Musketeers’. There was at some point a candy called ‘Three Musketeers’ in Europe, but that was not made by Mars.)