A Long and Descriptive Name for a Teddy Bear Wearing a Grand Motel Shirt

Teddy bears got their name from President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt. In 1902, Roosevelt went on a hunting trip in Mississippi, where his guides captured a black bear and tied it to a tree for him to shoot. Roosevelt famously refused, saying it would be unsportsmanlike to kill the bear under those circumstances. News of the event spread, and a political cartoonist named Clifford Berryman depicted the scene in a cartoon titled "Drawing the Line in Mississippi" in The Washington Post. This cartoon showed Roosevelt refusing to shoot the bear, which was drawn as a cute, small bear cub.

Inspired by the cartoon, a New York candy shop owner named Morris Michtom and his wife Rose created a stuffed bear toy and displayed it in their shop window, calling it “Teddy’s Bear” with Roosevelt’s permission. The bear was an instant success, and soon the Michtoms founded the Ideal Toy Company to keep up with the demand. This marked the birth of the teddy bear, which quickly became a beloved toy worldwide.