How the Barbie movie will influence parents and have a 'lasting impact' detailed by expert
Several characters in the Barbie film will start influencing trends as early as next year and have a long-lasting impact.
A name expert has predicted that several characters in the Barbie film will start influencing naming trends as early as next year.
Steph Coffield, who helps parents name their babies, thinks Greta Gerwig’s box office hit could spur new interest in four monikers in particular.
The stay-at-home mum from Minneapolis, Minnesota, predicts name trends based on cultural events, and she believes the names Barbara, Allan, and Gloria are about to see an uptick.
“I definitely think Barbie will have an influence on naming trends,” she said. “You’re going to see its lasting impact on culture for many years.
“If you think about it, there will be so many women who are feeling so empowered by this film and so seen."
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According to her estimations, Barbara could become increasingly popular, despite the name not ranking at all in the charts at present.
“Lots of people love an old-fashioned name with a cute nickname - Barbara to Barbie," she explained. “For male names, many people have asked about Ken - and I think people with use that name more.
“But Allan will be the underdog star of names in that movie!”
Allan, played by Michael Cera in the film, enjoyed great popularity after the film was released.
“Allan such a great vintage name, his character is so endearing,” noted Coffield. “For parents looking for softer sounding, gentler sounding names for their son, Allan fits the bill.”
The name expert believes the name Gloria will also become increasingly popular, after the empowering speech she delivered in the film.
Given the popularity of the film, Coffield also reckons new parents might opt to call their babies Greta, in honor of the movie’s director.
“For any of these names, I bet we’ll see a slight jump at the beginning, then it’ll continue to rise," she said. “We’ll see a bigger jump each year after that.”
Coffield, who stumbled into her career after posting TikToks on the topic, believes the impact of the movie on naming trends could become evident as early as next year.
The expert charges parents $50 to assemble a list of potential names based on their specifications.
