There are more than one stories about the naming of hot dog. But it is obvious that this naming process is related to the German dog breed ‘Dachshund’.

German people used to eat Dachshund meat. When they arrived in America in the 19th century, they brought the trend of eating Dachshund sausages.

Tad Dorgan, a sports cartoonist for the New York Times, is credited with naming hot dogs. Before it was given its current mysterious moniker, hot dogs were known as ‘red hots’ or ‘dachshund sausages’.

There is a funny story behind this naming. In 1901, The merchants at the New York Polo Grounds screamed, “They’re red hot!” The cartoonist commented, “Get your dachshund sausages while they’re still hot!” and illustrated barking dachshund sausages in a heated roll.

He couldn’t spell dachshund, so he scribbled ‘hot dog!’ instead. The term “hot dog” was coined as a result of this cartoon’s success. Despite the fact that historians have yet to locate a copy of the cartoon, the term was already in use in the twentieth century.