The first C&A stores open in the Netherlands in the second half of the 19th century. In advertisements from these years, the initials of company founders Clemens (1818–1902) and August (1819–1892) are accompanied by the Brenninkmeijer family name. The Dutch spelling “Brenninkmeijer” is replaced in the interwar period by the German variant “Brenninkmeyer”. The German spelling of the surname is also found in adverts for the German market following the opening of C&A’s Berlin store in 1911. In 1917 an advertisement headed “Wozu der lange Name?” (“Why the long name?”) announces that the company name is to be shortened simply to “C&A”. Around 1925, however, the surname reappears in the logo and only vanishes again in 1973.