One of the Mattel founders was Elliot Handler and his wife was later president of the company - their kids were named Kenneth and Barbara.
Wiki - He married Ruth Moskowicz and they had a daughter, Barbara who is the namesake of Barbie dolls and a son, Ken (who died of a brain tumor in 1994) who was the namesake of Ken dolls.[4] The Handlers had made a tradition of naming their toys after family members and when Barbara Handler married Allan Segal, they came out with Allan, Ken's buddy. The 1965 talking doll Baby Cheryl was named after the Handler's first grandchild, and the Todd doll in the Barbie line was named for their grandson. [5][6]
Rumour has it that Ruth had an illegitimate child after an affair with one of the Hassenfield brothers who founded Hasbro - the child was kept a secret, but it was later revealed that the child was actually a boy named Joseph (or Joe) who was drafted into the US military, General Infantry Division. Sadly he was killed in action at the battle of the backyard, whilst single-handedly trying to disarm a division of assorted rubber dinosaurs.
After his death, and in an attempt to come to terms with her infidelity and the shame of not acknowledging her son's existence during his lifetime - Ruth decided to ask Hasbro to release the GI Joe doll.
There is no truth however in the rumours that she had another affair with a British toy entrepreneur, that also spawned a son who was horribly disfigured with 'eagle-eyes', 'gripping-hands' and a facial disfigurement that left a large realistic scar on his right cheek.