The product name certainly rolls off the tongue better than the generic “cotton swab” name, that’s for sure. That’s because it’s a quality name. A quality name that means “Quality tips.”
That’s right, the Q stands for quality. Q-tips were first conceived by Leo Gerstenzang, who observed his wife stick bits of cotton to toothpicks. He decided that his wife had the right idea and decided to found the Leo Gerstenzang Infant Novelty Co. in 1923, which would manufacture ready to use cotton swabs. Here are 25 words that don’t mean what you think they do.
But the product wouldn’t pick up its now famous name until 1926. For the first three years, the cotton swabs were called “Baby Gays,” which the company would be modified to become “Q-tips® Baby Gays.” Eventually, they dropped “Baby Gays” altogether and were just left with Q-tips.
Source: Reader’s Digest