Kraft Foods Inc., announced today that its corporate name for the global snacks company will be Mondelēz International, Inc. (pronounced mohn-dah-LEEZ').

The newly coined word is meant to evoke the idea of “delicious world”, as "Monde" derives from the Latin word for "world" and "delez" is a fanciful expression of "delicious," Kraft says in a press release. And, “International” is mean to capture the global nature of the business.

As previously announced, Kraft Foods is dividing to create two public companies before the end of 2012 — a global snacks business and a North American grocery business. The North American grocery company will become Kraft Foods Group, Inc., retaining the Kraft brand for its corporate identity and as the brand for many of its consumer products.

The global snacks company is slated to launch later this year under the Mondelēz International moniker.

"The Kraft brand is a perfect fit for the North American grocery business and gives it a wonderful platform on which to build an exciting future," says Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld.  "For the new global snacks company, we wanted to find a new name that could serve as an umbrella for our iconic brands, reinforce the truly global nature of this business and build on our higher purpose — to 'make today delicious.'  Mondelēz perfectly captures the idea of a 'delicious world' and will serve as a solid foundation for the strong relationships we want to create with our consumers, customers, employees and shareholders."

Mary Beth West, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, says she’s thrilled with the new name.

"It's quite a job for a single word to capture everything about what we want the new global snacks company to stand for," she explains. “[Mondelēz is] interesting, unique and captures a big idea — just the way the snacks we make can take small moments in our lives and turn them into something bigger, brighter and more joyful."

Last fall, the company invited employees from around the world to suggest names for the new global snacks company.  As part of this co-creation process, more than 1,000 employees participated, submitting more than 1,700 names for consideration. Mondelēz International was inspired by separate suggestions from two employees, one in Europe and another in North America.

If shareholders approve the name at their annual meeting May 23, the company expects it to become effective when the global snacks company launches before the end of 2012.

The company has also reserved the stock symbol "MDLZ."  If the name change amendment is approved, the company intends to request that its common stock trade under this new stock symbol after the spinoff. The stock symbol for the North American grocery company will be announced at a later date.

Until the new companies launch, however, the name and stock trading symbol for Kraft Foods Inc. will not change. In addition, the name change will not in any way affect the validity or transferability of any currently outstanding stock certificates, and the company will not ask shareholders to surrender for exchange any Kraft Foods Inc. certificates presently held by them.