Chocolate lovers are just discovering where Snickers bars got their name from

When it comes to chocolate bars, Snickers is one of the popular classic sweet treats - but just how did the chocolate get its name?

The bar consists of nougat, with a layer of caramel and peanuts, then covered in milk chocolate was created by Mars Inc in 1930 and the product first hit UK shelves back in 1968.

The story of how the Snickers bar came to be is down to Ethel Mars - a co-founder of the 'Mar-o-Bar' company, known now as Mars Company.

She and her husband Frank Mars initially started a sweet factory back in 1911 but were unsuccessful, but they would later find success with the founded 'Mar-o-Bar' which is now widely known as Mars Inc, as per Mashed.

There is a touching story behind how the Snickers bar name came to be.iStockphoto by Getty Images

Their first hit product was the Milky Way and due to its popularity Ethel and Frank had the funds to buy a huge, 3,000-acre horse breeding farm in Tennessee, aptly called the Milky Way Farm.

In 1930, tragedy struck when Ethel's favourite horse called Snickers sadly died and this happened just as Mars was about to launch their new nougat peanut caramel chocolate bar.

That's when both Ethel and Frank decided to name the new bar "Snickers" as a tribute to their late horse - and the rest is history.

While the US has always called it a Snickers, in the UK the snack was initially known as a "Marathon" bar because it was unfortunate to rhyme with "knickers," which is a British term for women's underwear.

But then in the 1990s, it was changed to "Snickers" and has been known as this ever since.

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