People who work for the Mutual of New York Insurance Company--also known as M.O.N.Y.--can’t imagine that the staid, conservative company would have anything to do with rock ‘n’ roll. They think it’s just a coincidence that the name of their company is also the title of this song. It isn’t. M.O.N.Y's central office in New York City is a 40-story building located at 1740 Broadway; on top is a huge old sign that flashes thecompany’s name in neon at night. That sign inspired Tommy James' 1968 hit when he turned it into a girl's name during a songwriting session. 

JAMES: "The night we wrote the song, we were absolutely devastated because we couldn’t come up with a 'Bony Moronie,' a 'Sloopy' kind of title, and we knew that’s what it had to be. It had to be a girl's name that nobody had ever heard of before. We were going through the dictionary, but nothing was happening. We were just absolutely frustrated. I walked out onto my terrace--I lived in Manhattan at the time--and I’m just sort of scanning around and I’m looking for just any part of a name, anything. I’m just kind of staring out into space and all of a sudden, I look up and I see [what I’m looking for]. . .I said [to my manager], 'Ritchie, c’mere.' He came over and I said, 'Look.' And all of a sudden, here’s this 'M.O.N.Y' with a dollar sign in the middle of the 'O.' The song kind of etched in stone in New York, I guess. We both just fell down laughing." 

UPDATE: M.O.N.Y. merged with AXA Financial, Inc. in July 2004. AXA Financial is a member of the global AXA Group.