Female best friends •
Margaret "Midge" Hadley Sherwood (1963–1966, 1988–2004, 2013–2015): This character was Barbie's Irish-American best friend. She was the third character introduced to the Barbie line, following Barbie and Ken. In the Random House novels, her last name is Hadley. She was paired with Allan Sherwood, Ken's best friend, when Allan was introduced in 1964. After she married Allan/Alan in 1991, she became Midge Hadley Sherwood. In the 1990s Price Stern Sloan series
Adventures with Barbie, she and Alan are married, and in book 5, "The Phantom of Shrinking Pond" by Suzanne Weyn (1992), it is implied that she is named after her Aunt Margaret. She is named Viky in Brazil (from the book
Barbie Doll Around the World by J. Michael Augustyniak (2008, Collector Books)). In 2001 she was given her line named Happy Family. Midge was released with a magnetic belly and a baby. Also in the line was Alan and their son Ryan, and Midge's parents though they were not given real names. In 2013, she was brought back in the
Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse web series where she undergoes a makeover to look more modern, though the character tends to act like she is still in the 1960s. There is no mention of Allan/Alan in the series. In 2024, Midge was brought back again in the Deluxe Style. • '''''' (1968–2005, 2015): Barbie doll's first African-American friend character, Christie was part of the new group of Talking dolls for 1968. She was later issued as a Twist 'N Turn version. The character appeared in the product line continuously for many years, though the original Christie face sculpt was discontinued in 1978. She is notable in that she has been romantically linked with several male characters over the years. In 1970, she was linked with Brad, the Talking Brad doll even said, "Christie is the greatest". In 1982, the Sunsational Malibu Christie doll had a boyfriend named Ken who used the Brad face sculpt with rooted hair. In the late 1980s, Christie was paired with Steven. The surname O'Neil is associated with the Nikki character, who is purported to be Christie's sister, but the surname has not been associated directly with Christie. The doll has been criticized as following American beauty standards instead of representing Afrocentric body image, representing only one tone of skin color, and because her sculpted features were seen to symbolize white standards of beauty. Christie was discontinued when Barbie got Nikki as her new African-American friend, though Nikki uses Christie's face, the change in name of almost the same doll was never stated. In the 2015 movie
Barbie & her Sisters in the Great Puppy Adventure, Christie is the name of one of Barbie's old friends from Willows, Wisconsin. On the back of the 1998 Beyond Pink Christie box, her birthday is August 9. In 2025, Christie was brought back again in the Deluxe Style wave 2. •
Teresa Rivera (1988–present): Originally used the 1983 Spanish Barbie face sculpt for the Island Fun Teresa doll and the Beach Blast Teresa doll. Starting with the Wet 'N Wild Teresa doll, the character began using the 1972 Steffie face sculpt. Starting with the Rollerblade Teresa doll, the character began using an all-new face sculpt that has become known as the Teresa face sculpt. In the Grolier book "High Sea Adventure" (1999), her last name is Rivera. Teresa is of Latina heritage. She is named Debora in Brazil (from the book
Barbie Doll Around the World, by J. Michael Augustyniak, (2008, Collector Books)). She was featured in the 2008 film
Barbie & the Diamond Castle as Barbie's best friend, where she told a story about her and Barbie (as Liana and Alexa) as two girls closer than most friends living in the forest. She appeared in the web series
Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse and now stars in
Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures as one of Barbie's best friends. She also starred in the 2016 movie,
Barbie: Spy Squad alongside Barbie and Renee. On the back of the 1999 Beyond Pink Teresa box, her birthday is October 2. •
Summer Gordon (2004–2015): This doll used an all-new face sculpt. Summer is Blaine's younger sister with strawberry blonde hair and green/brown eyes. She was a frequent character in the web series
Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse. She was from Australia when she was introduced in 2004, but in all of animated media, she is American. •
Nicole "Nikki" Watkins (2006–present): This doll appears as one of Barbie's current friends, and is closer to her, Barbie is often seen hanging out with just Teresa and Nikki. She has used other different head sculpts through the years. Her last name is O'Neil in the 2010 Random House book, "Barbie: I Can be a Movie Star," but her last name was established as Watkins in
Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures. She was a frequent character in the web series
Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse and now stars in
Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures as one of Barbie's best friends. •
Raquelle (2006–2015): This doll used the Summer face sculpt with her debut. In 2011 she appeared with an all-new face sculpt in the Barbie Fashionistas line. She is Barbie's
frenemy as shown in
The Barbie Diaries,
Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale,
Barbie: A Fairy Secret and the web series
Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse, and has a twin brother named Ryan. In 2026, Raquelle was brought back in the Deluxe Style wave 3. •
Grace (2009–2015): This African-American doll made its first appearance in the 2009 SIS Line, she used to be a friend of Barbie who moves to Chicago and makes new friends. She also appears in
Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale. In 2014, she moved back to Malibu. Her backstory was revived when she started appearing in
Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse. She is very smart and interested in science.
Other friends •
Stacey (1968–1971): Introduced as "Barbie's British chum" during the musical
British Invasion of the US, Stacey first appeared in 1968 as a pull-string 'Talking' doll with long hair, either blonde or redhead, tied in a side ponytail, as well as a 'TnT' (Twist 'n Turn) Stacey with long hair, again either blonde or redhead, tied in a ponytail with three spitcurls framing her face. A later edition TnT Stacey had much shorter hair, styled in a curly flip, again as either a blonde or redhead. It is the Stacey face sculpt that is used for Malibu Barbie. •
PJ (1969–1983): Fully representing the "groovy", "hippie" era of the late 1960s, PJ originally appeared using Midge's face sculpt, but with much longer hair, tied into beaded pigtails. In 1972, with PJ's addition to the Malibu Barbie line (consisting of Barbie, Ken, Skipper, and Francie), she changed to the Steffie face sculpt, which continued until the end of her production. She was billed as Barbie's best friend, again replacing Midge. One of the last iterations of the doll, "Dream Date PJ", erroneously lists her as Barbie's cousin. It is the only such reference and should not be considered canon. •
Steffie (1972): Although only three versions of Steffie were produced (Busy Steffie, Talking Busy Steffe and Walk Lively Steffie), all of which appeared in 1972, her face sculpt was used for several Barbie-family dolls for many years after, primarily the PJ doll. Some Barbies of that era, issued outside the US, use the Steffie face sculpt. In at least one Mattel advertisement from 1972, Busy Steffie is pictured, but is referred to as "Busy PJ", indicating that, even though Barbie fans refer to her as having the Steffie face sculpt, it is actually Steffie that has the PJ face sculpt. However, because PJ had used the Midge face sculpt for three years prior, Steffie was the first Mattel doll to use it as her only face sculpt, hence the name "Steffie face". •
Cara (1975–1976): Appears in Mattel's Barbie line with her boyfriend Curtis, alongside Barbie's other African-American couple, Brad and Christie. Cara was produced as Free Moving Cara, Ballerina Cara, and both Quick Curl and Deluxe Quick Curl Cara. She was produced with the Steffie face (Christie continues to appear as well, in the Malibu, Fashion Photo and Superstar lines from Mattel). •
Whitney (1986–1991): Described on her introduction as “Barbie doll’s glamorous best friend” in the Jewel Secrets Barbie line of 1986 (Princess Laura in Europe). This doll uses the Steffie face and always featured brunette hair. Returned in 1987 as Nurse Whitney in the Doctor Barbie line, and Perfume Pretty Whitney the same year. Made a comeback for 1988 in the Style Magic Barbie line. She made her last appearance as European exclusive Ultra Hair Whitney. •
Kira/Miko (Marina in Europe) (1985–2001): Barbie doll's first Asian friend character, the first appearance was in the line of Tropical Barbie in 1985 as Miko, a native Hawaiian. Kira, an
Asian-American, was later introduced looking similar to Miko and with the same head sculpt. The character appeared in the product line continuously for many years, the original Kira/Oriental face sculpt was created in 1980. She's voiced by
Grey DeLisle in
Barbie Beach Vacation and Barbie Team Gymnastics. •
Becky (1997–1999): A friend of Barbie who uses a wheelchair. She used the Teen Skipper head mold but there were only three dolls ever made. She only appeared in
Detective Barbie series and
Secret Agent Barbie and voiced by
Kath Soucie. •
Kayla and
Lea (2000–2006): First appearing as Dress Up Kayla, she appears in other formats for the next four years and was released in tandem with Lea. Lea was an Asian girl and Kayla was depicted as almost every race, not being consistent. Kayla eventually was removed, and Lea existed until 2006, leaving Mattel's Barbie line with no Asian dolls until Lea's re-introduction in 2014. •
Jamie (1970-1972): Barbie's redheaded walking friend. •
Kelley (1973–1974): Quick Curl and Yellowstone. Not to be confused with the other dolls named Kelly. •
Nikki (1988): An Asian girl appearing only in the Animal Lovin' line. •
Devon (1989): A black girl appearing in Dance Club. •
Kayla (1989): A redheaded
Dutch American girl appearing in Dance Club. •
Tracy (1983): A brunette friend sold in a wedding gown. •
Nia (1989): A
Native American girl appearing in the Western Fun line. •
Tara Lynn (1994): A dark-haired girl appearing in the Western Stampin' (Country in Brazil) line. In Brazil, she was called Tina. •
Reina (1999): Barbie's Japanese friend. She was a Japan exclusive and used the Steffie face sculpt. Only one version was ever released. She was dressed in a schoolgirl outfit. •
Drew (2002–2005): Appearing in the Mystery Squad and Fashion Fever lines. •
Melody and Simone (2003): Appearing in 1 Modern Circle. Melody had blue hair and Simone was an African-American. • Simone would reappear in the
American Idol line with Barbie and Tori in 2005, with the Summer face sculpt. •
Shannen (2005): Blonde-haired Fashion Fever doll. •
Maiko (2006): An East Asian
geisha released as a Collector doll. •
Harper Villa (2016–2018): First 'curvy' friend of Barbie, with blue hair. Appears in Fashionistas line and in vlogs. •
Renee Chao (2016–present): Renee is a character in the 2016 film
Barbie: Spy Squad and
Dreamhouse Adventures. She is a gymnast and athletic in both yoga and skateboarding. She is Chinese-American. •
Daisy Costopolis (2018–present): from
Dreamhouse Adventures, a curvy friend of Barbie with pink hair. •
Tia, Courtney, and Desiree (2004): Fashion Fever dolls. Tia and Courtney look quite similar to the characters of Tia and Courtney from the movie
The Barbie Diaries but are separate characters. Several friends were exclusive to certain countries: •
Lia (1980s): Mainline Brazil exclusive, appears in one of the Rockers lines (Brazil had different Rockers editions), and replaces Whitney in their edition of the Perfume Pretty line. She usually had light brown hair, but sometimes was blonde. •
Dalma "
Diva"
Lancaster (1980s): Mainline Brazil exclusive, a blonde-haired girl who shares the same nickname as Ophelia from the Rockers line. •
Viky (1989): A Brazilian friend of Barbie, released exclusively in Brazil. She used the Steffie face sculpt. Usually a redhead, but sometimes a brunette, and a blonde in one Rockers line. •
Lara (1992): Brunette Brazil exclusive, she only appears in their edition of the Lights N Lace line, called Superstar. Christie and Teresa were replaced by her and Kira (the only time Kira, or any Asian doll for that matter, was released in Brazil). •
May Chung Ling (2008–2009): Barbie's East Asian friend from
Shanghai, released exclusively in the
Barbie Shanghai boutique. According to her passport, she has many accessories, her favorite food is ice cream. She enjoys singing and dancing. Only two versions would be released, until the boutique closed.
The Rockers and the Sensations •
Dee Dee: Later known as "Belinda" in the United States, as she did not exist in the European Sensations line. She is African-American. Never released in Latin America. •
Dana: Later known as "Becky" or "Bibi" in Europe. Never released in Latin America. She is Asian-American. •
Diva: Later known as "Bopsy" or "Becky" in Europe. Released in Brazil only once, albeit in a different outfit and with darker hair (Venezuela had three outfits for her). •
Derek: The only male member of the band.
Generation Girls •
Tori/Susie/Vicky Burns: Barbie's friend from
Sydney, Australia who enjoyed
extreme sports. • Tori would reappear in the
American Idol line with Barbie and Simone in 2005, but with the Summer face sculpt. •
Nichelle Williams Watson: Barbie's friend from
New York City, USA who enjoyed
modeling. •
Ana/Marissa Suarez: Barbie's friend from
Mexico City, Mexico who enjoyed
swimming and
track and field. •
Chelsie/Gabby Peterson: Barbie's friend from
London, Europe who enjoyed
songwriting. •
Lara/Marie Morelli-Strauss: Barbie's friend from
Paris, Europe who enjoyed
fine arts. •
Mari/Mariko Nakano: Barbie's friend from
Tokyo, Japan who enjoyed
video games. •
Blaine Gordon: Barbie's friend from New York City, USA who enjoyed
spinning.
Miscellaneous •
Barbie Loves Benetton (2004–2005): A group of diverse girls from around the world, named after the
Benetton design company. •
Isla Filipina (2000s): A spin-off similar to Shani's but aimed at Filipino young people. == Friends of family ==