# Who put the Teddy in Teddybear? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-teddy-in-teddybear/214205 "2003-11-19T23:39:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mini-Thud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Mini-Thud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mini-Thud)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-teddy-in-teddybear/214205/1 "2003-11-19T23:39:47Z")
Okay, I’m eatin’ some Teddy Grahams (which are mighty tasty) and I happen to think about the Teddy part… they’re shaped like little bears, cept in humanoid form, kinda like a carebear. Now, Is that what a “teddy bear” means? Thats its like a bear, except that its standing like a human does? And an additional question, who first used Teddy bear and why did they choose teddy? Was it “Teddy the Bear” and it eventually morphed into Teddy Bear? Rather odd question, but thats what I love about the SDMB, anything goes 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-teddy-in-teddybear/214205/2 "2003-11-19T23:43:07Z")
It was named after Teddy Roosevelt: [http://members.tripod.com/~bigbee/history](http://members.tripod.com/~bigbee/history) ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-teddy-in-teddybear/214205/3 "2003-11-19T23:43:40Z")
That would be Teddy Roosevelt. If I recall correctly, there was a story about Roosevelt going bear hunting, but not having the heart to actually shoot a poor bear when it was cornered… (someone will be here shortly to correct me, I’m sure!) A candy maker heard this story, and made a toy bear which he put in his shop window, calling it “Teddy’s Bear”. It caught on… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-teddy-in-teddybear/214205/4 "2003-11-19T23:46:56Z")
Curse you, **Cabbage**! [sup]Well, I was close…[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-teddy-in-teddybear/214205/5 "2003-11-20T00:11:24Z")
The traditional, heartwarming story of the teddy bear is said to be a hoax. Roosevelt went on a hunting trip as President (in Georgia, IIRC), but failed to scare up anything worth shooting. Fearing this would subject him to ridicule, some of his staff flushed out a baby bear for him to shoot and TR refused. Then, it is said, someone or other on his staff blew it away and left it to rot. The first part of this story got into the press. Louis Marx, a candy store owner in New York, made a doll and put it in his store window with a sign which said “Teddy’s Bear”. People started asking where they could get a doll like that, and out of this grew the mammoth Marx Toy Company. Looking on eBay recently, I was surprised to see how many of the toys I played with as a child in the 60s were Marx products. Marx was also remarkable as a philanthropist who donated enormous amounts of toys to hospitals, orphanges, etc. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-teddy-in-teddybear/214205/6 "2003-11-20T00:37:19Z")
The link that **Cabbage** provided is written rather poorly. And that’s being generous. The spelling gets an “F” and about a “D” for accuracy on facts. MIsspellings: The cartoonist “Barryman” is actually “Berryman.” “Stionary” is actually “Stationery” and novilty(“novelty”) store. The bears had been made by his wife, Rose from plush stuffed excelsior and finished with black shoe button eyes. Michtom recognized the immediate popularity of the new toy, requested and received permission from Roosevelt himself to call them “Teddy’s Bears.” If Roosevelt gave his permission, then the writer of this atrocious webpage is the only human alive who knows it. It just ain’t so. The actual term “Teddy Bear” to refer to the stuffed animal we know today is found from 1906 in print. It’s entirely possible that the Michtoms had such a stuffed bear for sale in 1903 or so. But there is no printed record. The bear almost certainly WAS from Teddy Roosevelt. Just no proof, no matter what they say. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-teddy-in-teddybear/214205/7 "2003-11-20T01:54:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slipster \* > \*\*Roosevelt went on a hunting trip as President (in Georgia, IIRC), \*\* No. The hunt was in the Mississippi Delta. The guide for the hunt offered a bear which was tied to a tree, which the President refused to shoot. The story of the guide, [Holt Collier](http://www2.netdoor.com/~jtm/), is more interesting than that of the bear hunt: > [@](#): > > Holt Collier was born in the late 1840s as a slave of General Thomas Hinds. Collier is known for his efforts in the Civil War and for his hunts with Theodore Roosevelt. When his master, Thomas Hinds, decided to go and fight in the war, Collier believed that he should also. When he wasn’t allowed to go to fight, he ran away and served in the war. > \ > Holt Collier is best known for his guided hunts with Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. At the age of fifty six, Collier led Roosevelt on a bear hunt along the banks of the Little Sunflower River in Sharkey County, Mississippi. The President instructed Collier to save a bear, if spotted, for him to shoot. While Roosevelt and his companions were on a lunch break, Collier spotted a bear headed straight for the President’s hunting dogs. After killing one of the dogs, Collier managed to get the bear tied to a tree. When Roosevelt returned and saw the bear tied to the tree, he refused to kill the innocent animal. After this decision, the “teddy bear” later received its name. BTW the “Teddy Bear” is now the Official Toy of the State of Mississippi. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-teddy-in-teddybear/214205/8 "2003-11-20T02:44:28Z")
Possibly the world’s foremost expert and collector of Teddy Bears was British actor Peter Bull, best known as the Soviet ambassador who’s trying his damndest to keep from laughing at Seller’s antics in “Dr. Strangelove.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-put-the-teddy-in-teddybear/214205/9 "2003-11-20T03:32:48Z")
Was Bull expert enough to write the [Teddy Bear Encyclopedia](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/078948000X/qid=1069298544/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-9464318-6553452?v=glance&s=books)? I think not. > [@](#): > > Pauline Cockrill is the internationally recognized expert on the history of the teddy bear. She specialized in the field while curator at the National Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, and is a regular contributor to Teddy Bear Times. Both DK’s The Ultimate Teddy Bear Book (1991) and The Teddy Bear Encyclopedia (1993) are considered the bibles of arctophily (bear collecting), and are used by collectors, dealers, and toy shops worldwide. According to the page, “The first bear listed was made in 1902 and was an experimental Steiff bear.” You can use the “view sample pages” link to see the page displaying that bear along with some additional info. I think there is no question that the stuffed bear preceded the popular name of “Teddy,” but probably not by very much.