The inspiration for Barbie's namesake, Barbara Handler, was born in Los Angeles in 1941 to Ruth and Elliot Handler. She loved playing with paper dolls as a young girl, and during a family trip in 1956, as they walked down a street in Switzerland, Barbara stumbled upon a curvy plastic doll in a store window, which inspired her mom, Ruth, to create the Barbie doll in 1959, and Ken in 1961.

Barbara has told the press that while her mother purchased four dolls for her, she never saw them again after the trip, as "they were torn apart and researched." She went on to marry Allen Segal and had two children. She stated that neither Barbara nor brother Ken played with either doll.