Hear the phrase ‘babygirl’, and your mind might drift to the nickname your Year 7 boyfriend lovingly dubbed you over MSN chatrooms, or the lyrics of noughties R&B songs. But now, 'babygirl' is back - and it's got a whole new meaning.
Jacob Elordi appeared on Saturday Night Live over the weekend, with the Saltburn actor as host and Mean Girls’ Renee Rapp as musical guest.
On the show, comedian Bowen Yang jokes: ‘Renee, you were right. He is so babygirl.’ Renee agreeing ‘he’s so babygirl.’
‘Me?' asked Jacob, 'I’m baby girl. So what’s Renee?’
‘Oh,’ Renee replies. ‘I’m mother.’
If you’re wanting to add babygirl to your vocab but can't help but feel slightly confused at how to use it, we’ve got you. Here’s what babygirl actually means – and exactly why we’re using it to describe our favourite men, both fictional and real.
What does 'babygirl' mean?
From ‘rizz’ to ‘cheugy', Gen Z are modern-day Shakespeare when it comes to creating new words. ‘Babygirl’ is simply their latest one. For our non-Gen Z’ers, ‘He’s so babygirl’ is a term used to describe a man with energy that’s vulnerable, submissive, and somewhat cutesy.
However, the criteria for what makes a man babygirl is still quite loose. Urban Dictionary describes the phrase as referring to a man who is ‘extremely sexually attractive with a good personality.’ Another definition reads, ‘grown fictional men who have the fandom in a loving chokehold.’
One popular TikTok argues that a babygirl should have two of three things: ‘eyes, cries, and war crimes. They have beautiful eyes, they’ve cried onscreen, and they’ve committed atrocities.’
Professor of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University, Sylvia Sierra, described it as feminizing men in a positive way. ‘Typically, there’s negative valance attached to these terms for women. With ‘”babygirl,” you’re not seeing that. It actually is being used in a positive way, like you’re highlighting favourable qualities in a man.”
For an example, we’ll look at two of Jacob’s most wonderful onscreen portryals.
Jacob’s character of Felix in Saltburn is ‘so babygirl.’
On the other hand, Nate from Euphoria would be ‘so not babygirl.’
Toxic masculinity is not hot. This 6’5 babygirl, however, is...
How long has 'babygirl' been a phrase?
Believe it or not, referring to men as ‘babygirl’ first emerged In 2021.
Back then, the endearment of ‘babygirl’ seemed to be mostly reserved for middle-aged men, reminiscent of Breaking Bad’s Walter White.
By 2022, one tweet gave fans a checklist for their future babygirlification plans – including traits such as, ‘Is your character a man in the age of/older than 30?’ and ‘Does your character have major emotional traumas?’
By Spring of 2023, the slang had come to represent someone with more conventional babygirl vibes.
Which men are 'babygirls'?
To name a few: Paul Mescal in all his forms, Jeremy Strong’s Succession character Kendall Roy, Pedro Pascal, as well as his character Joel in The Last of Us. In some corners of the internet, Keanu Reeves and David Tennant have also been honoured on the ever-growing list.
As with all things in life, babygirl is a spectrum. Sometimes babygirl is a middle-aged man named Pedro. Sometimes babygirl is a cardigan-clad Irish bloke named Paul. Sometimes babygirl is a 6’5 Australian dude named Jacob. Frankly, there’s space for all babygirls in our world.
Charlotte Roberts is a News and Entertainment Writer for Grazia, writing interviews and features around everything pop culture.