In a move that has tongues wagging and keyboards clacking, YouTuber Trisha Paytas and her husband Moses Hacmon have welcomed their first child into the world, and her name is already sparking a debate.
Brace yourselves, the baby name game has just reached a new level of "extra" with their daughter: Malibu Barbie Paytas Hacmon.
Announcing the birth via a TikTok video on September 15, 2022, the new parents were ecstatic. "Best day ever [...] Meet our daughter - Malibu Barbie Paytas Hacmon [...] born 09.14.22," they captioned the clip.
Meet Malibu Barbie Paytas Hacmon:The name instantly caught fire across social media platforms, proving once again that celebrities and unique baby names go hand-in-hand, or perhaps, bottle-in-mouth.
Paytas—known for their dual pronouns she/her and they/them—has had quite a challenging path to parenthood. Besieged with fertility struggles and even caught in outlandish rumors, like their newborn being a reincarnation of Queen Elizabeth II (yes, you read that right!), Paytas has never been a stranger to the spotlight or controversy.
Since gracing YouTube in 2007, Paytas has amassed a following of over five million subscribers and a staggering 900 million total views. They've donned multiple hats—mukbanger, fashionista, makeup guru, and the emotional confidante sitting on a kitchen floor, venting about life's complexities.
Notably, Paytas has also oscillated between various identities and religious affiliations, from Judaism to Islam to the Hare Krishna movement, making them a constant subject of social media debates. And it seems the birth of Malibu Barbie is just another chapter in the saga.
The social media landscape is clearly divided.
One Twitter user drew on 1993's Addams Family Values to make a point, a joke likely lost on Gen Z: "When the nurse asked what you wanted to name her," the tweet read, highlighting the dark humor around naming a child after a Barbie doll.
Another quipped, "When you realize you're no longer in Buckingham Palace," poking fun at the Queen Elizabeth reincarnation theory.
Yet, there are those who are enthralled by the name. "MALIBU IS SUCH A PRETTY NAMEEE. AND BARBIEEE SO CAMP," commented TikToker Cameron Perez. "Congratulations [...] Malibu is beautiful," added another influencer, Abbie Herbert.
Of course, the detractors were just as vocal. "Naming your newborn MALIBU BARBIE is cruel. What an awful name," a user pointedly remarked, summing up the sentiment of many who find the name questionable at best.
In the grand tapestry of celebrity baby names—where we've had Apples, Norths, and even a Rise Messiah—Trisha Paytas' choice of Malibu Barbie seems apt for an era where the extraordinary has become, quite simply, ordinary. But one thing is clear: In the world of unique celebrity baby names, Malibu Barbie Paytas Hacmon is already a star.