Want to learn more about Winnie the Pooh? Here’s everything you need to know.

“Winnie the Pooh had its start thanks to the son of author A.A. Milne. It was really a real-life teddy bear that was presented to Milne’s kid on his first birthday in 1921 that served as the inspiration for the character of Winnie the Pooh. And Milne’s son’s influence didn’t stop with his teddy bear: Pooh’s human closest buddy, Christopher Robin Milne, was named after the small kid who inspired him to write the story.

And have you ever wondered why Winnie the Pooh has a female name? While Milne’s son initially called his teddy bear Edward, he changed the name to Winnie after visiting the London Zoo and being captivated with a black bear named Winnie, who he would feed spoonfuls of condensed milk. Unlike the literary depiction, the real Winnie was actually a female bear. She had been given to the zoo by a Canadian solider called Harry Colebourn, who dubbed her “Winnipeg” after his city. That was later reduced to “Winnie.”