Angel Reese , who was affectionately termed the "Bayou Barbie" while playing at LSU , has announced that her search for a new nickname is over.
The 2023 NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player has anointed herself the "Chi Barbie" after a viral social media post on Wednesday publicized her interest in a new nickname. Reese was selected by the Chicago Sky with the No. 7 overall pick in Monday's WNBA Draft.
Earlier in the week, she wrote on X: "I need a new name now that i’m in Chicago . Something cute that is catchy like Bayou Barbie." And in a subsequent TikTok, she told fans, "Hey y'all, so it's the Chi Barbie now" before acknowledging she'd also be "Baltimore Barbie" and "Bayou Barbie" for life.
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After two seasons at Maryland , the Baltimore native made the move to Baton Rouge in the summer of 2022 and earned the "Bayou Barbie" moniker based on her interest in luxury fashion, embrace of the color pink and Louisiana's association with bayous, the slow-moving bodies of water found in low-lying areas of the American Southeast.
Reese's rising stardom became synonymous with the nickname. She's generated more than three million Instagram followers and a historic shoe deal with Reebok and Shaquille O'Neal . The LSU superstar even tried to copyright the endearing alliteration, though that request was ultimately rejected by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) due to its similarity to Mattel's patent on Barbie .
"Registration of the applied-for mark is refused because of a likelihood of confusion," the USPTO said in response to Reese. "Trademark Act Section 2(d) bars registration of an applied-for mark that is so similar to a registered mark [Barbie] that it is likely consumers would be confused, mistaken, or deceived as to the commercial source of the goods and/or services of the parties."
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Reese had the option to return for a fifth and final season in college after her Tigers bowed out of the Elite Eight earlier in April against Caitlin Clark and Iowa , but the post star opted to enter the WNBA Draft in search of new scenery. Her selection to the Chicago Sky places Reese in a notably more cosmopolitan, drier environment, rendering the "Bayou Barbie" nickname less appropriate.
The rookie's viral post prompted a number of viral suggestions, including "Deep Dish Diva," "Chief Reese," a reference to the famous Chicago rapper Chief Keef, and "Chi-Scraper." Ultimately, Reese opted for the more familiar "Chi Barbie," an evident embrace of her new surroundings among the Sky's talented young core. Former South Carolina and fellow SEC star Kamilla Cardoso joins Reese in the Windy City and the Sky return second-leading scorer Marina Mabrey.
"I want to help them to grow," Sky coach Teresa Witherspoon said in reference to Cardoso and Reese, "[I] want to help them to grow in all areas in which we see they need growth and they know that they need growth. That’s going to be important to me. My most important thing is not the X’s and O’s.
"My most important thing is to have a relationship. I want to connect. And when I connect, I can have the most uncomfortable conversations because I’m leading these young women to be the best versions of themselves every single day.”
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