Parents Look to Barbie and Ken for Baby Name Inspiration

But 'Barbie' isn't the first—movies have given parents name ideas since 'The Wizard of Oz.'

Fact checked by Sarah Scott

Raise your hand if you haven’t had the Dua Lipa song “Dance The Night”—made popular by the Barbie movie—playing on repeat in your head at some point today. “Baby, you can find me under the lights…”

It turns out, “Baby, we’re finding name inspiration from the film…” Yes, the Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling gem is breaking box office records to make James Cameron turn green (not blue) with envy as the resident ticket sales king due to the success of the Avatar franchise, per Movieweb.

Parents-to-be to are now looking to add Barbie and Ken to their list of baby names to consider due to the cultural phenomenon that is the Greta Gerwig directed, feminist manifesto and summer blockbuster.

As Nameberry Editor-in-Chief Sophie Kihm told People, “Barbie and Ken are piquing parents’ interest.” Indeed, data from the site indicates that searches for the name of the eponymous doll have shot up 603% just since Barbie’s trailer came out in April of 2023. On Nameberry's list of popular girls' names of 2023, it currently ranks at number 1,896.

You better believe that the name Ken is Kenough because Barbie’s male counterpart has seen a climb of 293% in page views. The name Kenneth (not Ken) is ranked 113 on Nameberry's list of popular boys' names of 2023.

Just because fans are searching for these Mattel-inspired monikers doesn’t mean little Barbies and Kens will be running amok in a year’s time. Kihm explained that searches don’t “translate into actual usage.” She added, "Barbie and Ken are both dated names that aren’t due to come back yet, so while there may be a slight bump from the movie, neither will be among the most popular baby names of 2023.”

That said, if the Barbie movie provides baby name inspiration for parents (Allan? Midge?) it wouldn’t be the first time that a high-grossing film led to a baby name boom. Case in point? Home Alone was the box office smash of 1990—and the name Kevin just happened to be the 25th most popular boys’ name of the decade, per the Social Security Administration (SSA). Likewise, the name Rose blossomed in popularity following the massive success of the Kate Winslet film Titanic in 1997.

Jumping ahead to the 2000s, the Harry Potter movies apparently cast a spell on parents who increasingly picked names like Harry, Hermione, Luna, Draco, and Lucius for their little wizards-on-the-way, per the Daily Mail. And circa 2017, Movieweb reports that Marvel-related names for future superheroes grew in power as films like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming took over theaters.

The truth is, we can look even further back into Hollywood history to uncover how pop culture informs baby naming trends. The best example of this may be how in the years after The Wizard of Oz came out in 1939, the SSA reports that Judy (Judith) and Dorothy were in the top 20 most popular names for girls (Judy Garland of course played the ruby red slipper-clad Kansan).

Indeed, decade after decade, from Grease to Pretty in Pink, you can count on iconic films to potentially sway parents in choosing a name fit for the star in their lives. How else would we know the Sandras and Andies among us? Did I happen to mention that my parents named me after Melissa Manchester after seeing the movie Ice Castles, for which she wrote the theme song, “Through the Eyes of Love”? Cringe. I think I’d rather have been a Barbie.

For more Parents news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Parents.