Nod if you’ve heard this: Bobblehead dolls are an American favorite

By Deepti Hajela Updated 10:29 PM MESZ, September 3, 2026 Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit NEW YORK (AP) — It’s all in the name. Bobble. Head. It’s what the tiny collectible figurines with the spring-laden oversize heads are known for: Give them a tap and watch their tops go, gyrating up and down or side to side. And any head can bobble - entertainers, athletes, politicians, animals, fictional characters, even your own if you get one personalized. Kitschy, kind of funny, kind of clever, ubiquitous as giveaways at places like baseball games, who doesn’t love a bobblehead? America most definitely does. A promotional bobblehead showing Willie Mays is displayed during the San Francisco Giants baseball media open house in San Francisco, March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) The dolls aren’t an American invention. Sklar says there were head-nodding statues in China at least a few hundred years ago, seen by Europeans who brought versions back with them. Their popularity spread, and smaller versions were made, particularly in Germany. But they reached their true head-bobbing potential in America, he says, first becoming popular in the 1960s by sports figures being given out at baseball games and then expanding to include a range of famous people, like the Beatles. Sippin’ (and chuggin’) through the years with a party mainstay — the red Solo cup 12 MIN READ 15 Beyond keeping out bugs, the screen door safeguards Americans’ trust in others 7 MIN READ 123 For over 100 years, travelers have checked into US motel rooms and found the Gideon Bible 7 MIN READ 123 While there have been lulls over the decades in the level of public interest in the dolls, they’ve always been around, with whoever’s in the public spotlight likely to become a bobblehead subject. Says Sklar: “They really have just been something that Americans have come to know and love.” American Objects These are among the items that have shaped the nation. Here are their stories. Deepti Hajela Hajela writes about the ways in which America is changing as part of the AP’s Trends+Culture team. She is based in New York City.