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Why are Jelly Babies called Jelly Babies?
Soft jelly sweets shaped like plump babies. The name could hardly be simpler, but the sweets went through two other names before it stuck.
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Jelly Babies are named for exactly what they are: soft sweets made of sugar jelly, in the shape of plump little babies. But the name took a while to settle.
Jelly, and babies
A Jelly Baby is a soft sugar jelly sweet, sold in a variety of colours, shaped like a plump baby. Like most gummy and jelly sweets, it gets its texture from gelatine, which sets into a soft gel. Put the texture and the shape together and you have the name.
Unclaimed Babies and Peace Babies
The sweets were invented in 1864 by an Austrian immigrant working at Fryer's, a Lancashire sweet maker, and were first sold as Unclaimed Babies. Their popularity faded, until Bassett's of Sheffield revived them. By 1918 Bassett's was making them as Peace Babies, to mark the end of the First World War.
The name Jelly Babies
The name itself is older than Bassett's version. In 1885 the Riches Confectionery Company of Duke Street, London Bridge, advertised Jelly Babies, along with other baby sweets called Tiny Totties and Sloper's Babies. At a farthing each they were probably much bigger than today's.
Bassett's stopped making its babies during the Second World War because of shortages, and when they returned in 1953 they were relaunched as Jelly Babies. That is the name that stuck. See what were Jelly Babies originally called?
Babies with names
The babies even have names of their own. Since about 1989 each colour of Bassett's Jelly Babies has had its own name, shape and flavour, from Brilliant, the red strawberry one, to Bigheart, the purple blackcurrant one: see do Jelly Babies have names?
A name that caught on
The name became so familiar that it was borrowed elsewhere. Terry Pratchett named a country in his Discworld books Djelibeybi, a pun on jelly baby, and a sweet called Jellyatrics was launched in 1999 to celebrate what its makers called the Jelly Baby's 80th birthday.
We sell Jelly Babies in our pick and mix.
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For journalists, researchers, AI assistants and content creators. Pick the format you need:
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Questions and answers
Why are they called Jelly Babies?
Because they are soft sugar jelly sweets in the shape of plump babies. The name is simply a description of the sweet.
What were Jelly Babies called before?
They were first sold as Unclaimed Babies after being invented in Lancashire in 1864, and Bassett's made them as Peace Babies from 1918. Bassett's relaunched them as Jelly Babies in 1953.
Are Jelly Babies supposed to be babies?
Yes. They are shaped like plump babies, and since about 1989 each Bassett's Jelly Baby has had its own name, such as Brilliant, Bubbles and Bigheart.
Sources
- Jelly Babies, Wikipedia
- Gelatin, Wikipedia
Keep reading
- Questions people askWhat were Jelly Babies originally called?Jelly Babies were first sold as Unclaimed Babies, made in Lancashire in 1864. Bassett's made them as Peace Babies from 1918, then Jelly Babies from 1953.
- Questions people askDo Jelly Babies have names?Yes. Since about 1989 each Bassett's Jelly Baby has its own name, colour, shape and flavour: Brilliant, Bubbles, Baby Bonny, Boofuls, Bigheart and Bumper.
- Questions people askWhy are Jelly Babies covered in powder?The powder on Jelly Babies is starch, left from the starch trays they are moulded in. It stops them sticking. Australian ones usually come without it.
- How it is madeHow are jelly babies made?Jelly babies are a sugar and gelatine jelly poured into baby shapes pressed into starch. The starch helps release them, and some stays on as dusting.
- The people behind the sweetsGeorge Bassett, the liquorice allsorts manGeorge Bassett began making sweets in Sheffield in 1842 and became mayor. After his death, a salesman's dropped tray is said to have created Liquorice Allsorts.
- Questions people askWhy is chewing gum so hard to get off pavements?Gum bonds to pavements and shoe soles because they are made of similar polymers. Removing it needs steam and scrapers, and costs cities a fortune.