On this day, 1903, Morris Michtom put his Theodore Roosevelt-inspired children’s toy up for sale. With President Roosevelt’s permission to use his popular nickname, Michtom coined his bear as the “Teddy bear,” and it rapidly gained traction. The origin of the bear stemmed from rumors of a hunting trip in which President Roosevelt was said to have saved a trapped bear. Political cartoonists represented this using pictures of a baby bear. Michtom used these to create an original children’s toy that would later become a staple of a child’s early life.

Information found on History.com.