The official name of Barbie is Barbara (Varvara in my village) Millicent Roberts! Barbie is just her nickname!

Barbie is generally one of the most ICONIC toys ever made, and her name has become synonymous with the word “doll”! Also, Barbie is one of the most astonishingly successful people because she is BOTH a model AND an astronaut AND a nuclear physicist, has graduated from ALL universities and technical institutes, and all this with a pathologically thin plastic neck.

Until Barbie was “invented,” the only dolls on the market were mainly baby dolls! About sixty years ago, American Ruth Handler noticed that her daughter was playing with her paper dolls and giving them more adult roles!

She would, for example, pretend that her doll was a firefighter, went shopping, picked olives, waited patiently for her turn at the social security office, etc. That’s how Ruth came to think that the market was missing a doll that did not necessarily have to be a baby (as most dolls were until then) but would have more adult features! So after a trip to Germany in 1956, Ruth saw a doll that existed at the time on the German market, the Bild Lilli (see in the comments what this doll looked like!). Ruth bought one of these German “adult” dolls, brought it to the USA, and using the Bild Lilli as inspiration, created Barbie! (the name came from her daughter Barbara!). The first Barbie was released in 1959 by the toy company Mattel, of which Ruth’s husband was a co-founder. (see in the comments what the first Barbie looked like!)

FUN FACT 

One of those early Barbie dolls that were released in the market back then can cost over $25,000 today! Barbie was an instant hit, and as you can imagine, her German friend Bild Lilli dragged her to court for copying, but Barbie had a law degree from Komotini, so the case ended without bloodshed. 

Barbie was actually one of the first toys to use television as an advertising strategy! Although Barbie has often been criticized for perpetuating the stereotype that women should all be white, blonde, and thin - Mattel now produces dolls in all colors and shapes so that EVERYONE can relate! - she also brought a revolution to the world of toys! Barbie is the first doll designed and intended for girls (although obviously all children can play with dolls) who could have other cool roles like dentist, politician, etc. 

Until then, dolls only had the role of babies, and the only thing you could do was to take care of them! Okay, that's cool too, but on the other hand, it's SO beautiful that companies, through toys, give girls other stimuli beyond the concept of housewives-mothers. There is a phenomenon called "THE BARBIE SYNDROME"! Those who have this "syndrome" have made it their life's goal to look as much like Barbie as possible. Something that, of course, cannot happen 100%, because the body of the classic Barbie is anatomically impossible to achieve on a human scale! 

COOL FACT 

Barbie's friend, Ken, also got his name from Ruth's son, Kenneth! 
It is estimated that over 1 billion Barbie dolls have been sold since they hit the market! (Almost one-seventh of the entire world's population!)
 Also, a Barbie doll is purchased every 3 seconds! This means that by the time you read this post, about 600 Barbies have already been sold!