People have always needed to sleep, and we’ve used mattresses to make sleeping more comfortable since ancient times. Whereas ancient mattresses were often made of leaves and grass, our modern mattresses feature comfortable technology such as springs and memory foam. They also come with new names according to their size. When did modern mattress sizes get their names, and how did it happen? We answer these interesting historical questions below.
A single or twin mattress is the smallest standard mattress size other than the ones used for cribs and toddler beds. It gets the name “single” because it measures 38×75 inches, which can comfortably fit a single person. This official name came about after the American Civil War when mattress manufacturers decided to standardize sizes.
Many hotels in the early 1900s placed two single mattresses in their rooms, which is how these beds got their second name, “twin.” Selling these mattresses as twin beds that went together also helped mattress manufacturers and marketers boost sales, which is why we still call this mattress size a twin today.
Following the Civil War, Americans could more easily purchase single or double mattresses. The double mattress got its name because it was supposed to sleep double the number of people that a single bed could. This was ideal for married couples, although many couples still slept on two separate single mattresses. Part of the reasoning behind this choice may have stemmed from the fact that double mattresses, while designed to fit double the people of a single mattress, are not double the size of a twin mattress. They’re only 54×75 inches.
We’re still not sure exactly how a double mattress became known as a full mattress. Maybe it’s that double mattresses were a tight fit for many couples, so they felt very full!
Mass-producing mattresses didn’t start until the mid-1920s, and even then, most Americans stuck with their traditional single and double beds. However, following the end of World War II in the 1940s, the economy boomed. Suburbs spread out around cities, and people began purchasing new homes and filling them with the necessary home supplies, including larger beds. To further encourage these sales in the 1960s, mattress marketers gave larger mattresses regal names, such as the queen and king mattresses.
Americans were also growing physically during this time and needed larger beds to accommodate larger bodies. Those who weren’t expanding to the suburbs or physically expanding were still encouraged to buy larger, regally named mattresses through national campaigns such as Better Sleep Month.
Today, the queen bed is the most common mattress in the United States. While we no longer celebrate Better Sleep Month, most people know that finding the right mattress and knowing how to properly care for it helps achieve better sleep.
Knowing how modern mattress sizes got their names takes us all the way back to post-Civil War America. However, many of these names didn’t come about until just 60 years ago and were originally designed as marketing ploys to sell bigger mattresses. Whether you love your bigger mattress or wish these marketing ploys didn’t exist, the history of these names is fascinating.
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