Teddy bear

Origin of: Teddy bear

Teddy bear

This now world famous toy was named after Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt (1858-1919) who was the 26th US President (1901-1909) and the youngest ever at aged 42. Roosevelt was very fond of hunting and it was a bear hunting trip in 1902 that began it all. The only bear the hunters came across was a young cub, which the president declined to shoot. The incident was recorded the next day in a newspaper cartoon, which caught the eye of New York sweetshop owner, Morris Michtom, who asked his wife to make a toy bear and put it in the shop window. The bear sold immediately and very soon, the Michtoms were importing what they called Roosevelt bears from Germany. (One wonders whether they had the legal business rights to use the Roosevelt name.) Anyway, the bears soon became known as Teddy bears and proved so popular that, within the year, the Michtoms shut up shop and founded the Ideal Novelty & Toy Company, which remains one of the biggest in the world to this day. Incidentally, Theodore Roosevelt intensely disliked the nickname Teddy and forbade its use in his presence.