‘Sugar daddy’ is the name given to an older man who spoils a younger woman by giving her gifts and money. It is a term that has been around for centuries. While there are many claims to its origins, the most common is that it is a term used in the early twentieth century.
While there is little proof, there are some examples of the word “sugar” being used to describe a fancy gift. The University of Pittsburgh slang dictionary claims that sugar was commonly used as a replacement for money during the Civil War years.
The term sugar daddy may have originated as an expression used by the wife of Adolph Spreckels, the heir to the successful USA-based sugar company. Alma de Bretteville married Spreckels in 1908 and used the term to describe him. Although Alma’s biographer does not mention the term, she did refer to Adolph as a “Sugar Daddy.”
The term sugar daddy became a popular slang term in the early 20th century. It was likely influenced by the flapper girl culture of the Roaring Twenties, and was referred to by many. A film titled Sugar Daddies was released in 1927, and it helped cement the term into American lexicon.
Throughout the next several years, sugar relationships became socially acceptable. A man would marry a young woman, likely for the money. This money would be used to help the woman secure her future. The man would also be responsible for funding her lifestyle, which could be quite lucrative.
The first Sugar Baby was a socialite named Alma de Bretteville. She was six feet tall and married a sugar tycoon named Adolph Spreckels. She was 24 years younger than Adolph, and was referred to as a “Sugar Daddy.”
A similar slang term was the big butter and egg man. This was an older man, a rich small-town citizen who tried to be a playboy. He would press $50 bills onto entertainers and pay a steep cover charge for each guest. The term “heavy sugar daddy” was also used, but it was a theatrical term and had no meaning to the theater industry.
The word “Sugar Daddy” was not even in the dictionary in the early twentieth century. The term “Sugar Daddy” may have been used to describe a rich, older man who was a lover. But the most likely origin of the term was in the early 1900s, when a woman named Mary Louise “Texas” Guinan ran a New York speakeasy called the 300 Club.
The term “Sugar Daddy” is usually derogatory, but it has been used to refer to many other things, including a large candy bar that is still manufactured today. The candy bar was originally called “Papa Sucker,” and later changed to “Sugar Daddy.” The candy bar did not melt in the summer, which gave it an advantage over other candy bars.
Although there are many definitions of “Sugar Daddy,” the term is most commonly used to describe an older man who provides gifts and money to a younger woman. However, the term can also refer to a sugar situation, where the rich older man spoils the young woman.