Greta Gerwig's Barbie has birthed a cultural phenomenon that may have found some parents considering naming their babies after the movie's eponymous doll or her Ken-panion.
Popular baby-naming website Nameberry told People that searches for the name "Barbie" (short for Barbara) have increased by a whopping 603% since the movie's first trailer debuted online, while page views for the moniker "Ken" (diminutive of Kenneth) have also shot up on the site, with users causing a 293% surge.
Barbie currently ranks at 1,896 on the list of popular baby girl names, while Kenneth is in the 113th spot on the charts for top baby boy names. The rising popularity of both of these names could very well lead to "Hi Barbie" and "Hi Ken" exchanges in real life. However, these searches do not reflect what ends up on a birth certificate.
"Barbie and Ken are piquing parents' interest, but this doesn't mean that will translate into actual usage," Nameberry Editor-in-Chief Sophie Kihm said. "Barbie and Ken are both dated names that aren't due to comeback yet, so while there may be a slight bump from the movie, neither will be among the most popular baby names of 2023."
In the movie, Margot Robbie portrays the main Barbie and Ryan Gosling stars as the lead Ken doll, with several other notable actors also stepping outside of the toybox to ultimately discover that life is not all about blowout parties, beach hangouts, and rollerblading dates. There are actually a lot of mundane tasks and appointments.
Barbie has broken all kinds of records since debuting on July 21 as one part of the 'Barbenheimer' experience. The movie earned rave reviews from fans and critics, with IGN's own review describing it as a "hyper-femme roller-coaster ride" that provides "a masterful exploration of femininity and the pressures of perfection".
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
