Saturday, April 20, 2024

R: Ryan

 

#AtoZChallenge 2024 letter R


Ryan

Yet another confusing name in the Barbie world. Ryan first appeared as the name of one of Barbie's baby sister Kelly's little friends and was supposedly friends with Ken's little brother Tommy. Ryan was also the name of Alan and Midge's son in the Happy Family Line. According to this link, the Ryan in the Kelly line is Midge and Alan's son. Ryan was a toddler when the Happy Family line was introduced two years after the Kelly line, though there was no connection to Kelly mentioned when the Happy Family was produced. Confused, are you?

But the naming doesn't end there. The name Ryan appeared again in the My Scene Goes Hollywood movie from 2005. The doll is pictured below.


The Fashionistas line of 2011 reintroduced the Ryan name. This is the doll on the right in the photo on top of the page. This character also appears in the Life in the Dreamhouse and the Barbie Vlog videos. He was the twin brother of the character Raquelle, until she was retired. 

This is even more confusing. I have the feeling I missed something on this one. Anyone know otherwise? As long as Mattel holds rights to names, they likely will often be reused to the point of confusion like this one.

4 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Sheesh, is there only one name in the world?

Liz A. said...

These Ryans need last initials, like we did in elementary school when someone shared your name in class. (There's a reason I go by Liz A. in the blogosphere.)

Lisa said...

You keep showing ones I had never heard of! But, when I was Barbie age there was just Barbie and Skipper I think.
Like Liz A., I was always Lisa S. in school! But, there was another Lisa S. I don't remember what the teachers did with that. It didn't help that the S. was Smith! The Smiths in the high school year book went on for pages (well, maybe not literally, but more than one page!) The other Lisa S. wasn't in my high school.

Ronel Janse van Vuuren said...

Someone should gift Mattel a baby name book...

Ronel visiting for R: My Languishing TBR: R
Rumpelstiltskin