Kraft Foods Inc. said on Wednesday that its international snack business would be called Mondelez International Inc. once it is separated from the North American grocery business later this year.
Kraft said the name, pronounced "mohn-dah-LEEZ," is meant to evoke the idea of "delicious world."
"Monde" is based on the Latin word for "world," the company said, while "delez" is a "fanciful expression of 'delicious'" based on the word's translation to "delicieux" in French and "delicioso" in Spanish.
Kraft said it had also reserved the stock symbol "MDLZ."
Mondelez grew out of suggestions from two employees at the company, General Counsel Marc Firestone, based at its headquarters near Chicago, and Johannes Schmidt, a 35-year veteran in its information systems department, based in Vienna, according to a Kraft spokesman.
© 2013 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.