Back in 1923, Leo Gerstenzang, the founder of Q-tips, saw his wife putting cotton pads on toothpicks, so he came up with the idea of q-tips. According to the history of q-tips “1926 – The product was originally called Baby Gays and in 1926, the labels were changed to read Q-tips® Baby Gays. Later, the name Baby Gays was discarded and Q-tips® became the identifying mark for cotton swabs. The “Q” in Q-tips® stands for quality and the word “tips” describes the cotton swab at the end of the stick.”