Christopher Robin Milne’s teddy bear was originally called Edward.
Christopher received the Alpha Farnell teddy bear for his first birthday, on 21 August 1921. He later renamed the toy Winnie after Winnipeg, the Canadian black bear he saw at London Zoo. The name “Pooh” came from a swan associated with Christopher and his father, A. A. Milne.
The bear’s changing name helped produce the character’s famous compound name, Winnie-the-Pooh. In the stories, the bear is also sometimes called Pooh Bear or simply Pooh. The toy itself became one of the real objects connected with the creation of the books.
Another frequent confusion concerns E. H. Shepard’s illustrations. Shepard did not use Christopher Robin’s bear as the direct model for his drawings of Pooh; he based the illustrations on his own son’s teddy bear, Growler. Christopher’s original toys, including Edward, were later displayed at the New York Public Library.