It turns out that the iconic nicknames given to the Spice Girls were never supposed to be taken too seriously. What was simply a suggestion from a magazine editor has snowballed into key parts of the group’s identity.
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The Spice Girls consisted of Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice), Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice), Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), and Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice). These nicknames reflected their looks and personality, and have defined the group for years. Not that they thought at the time they’d be at all significant.
Melanie “Mel C” Chisholm spoke to PEOPLE magazine as she went over an album of her life. The former Spice Girl soon found herself explaining how each band member got their famous nicknames.
The tale goes all the way back to their roots and Top of the Pops.
“Top of the Pops was an iconic British music show,” she began her story. “It’s the show we all grew up watching, like longing to be on it. Now, the editor of this, a guy called Peter Loraine, he said, ‘You girls, you need nicknames.'”
The girls went through some “crazy” ideas, not really taking it seriously. But the editor ultimately used the nicknames they have today, and complemented his ideas with a photo of a spice rack, complete with the names and faces of the Spice Girls.
Mel C Describes How The Spice Girls Nicknames Stuck
Even with that iconic image, the Spice Girls didn’t really think anything of it. That was, until they went to America.
“We laughed at it,” she continued. “But when we came here, to the U.S., everybody kept calling us by these nicknames, and it just kind of stuck. And we loved it. We just really embraced it, and we became caricatures of ourselves.”
I do wonder if the Spice Girls would be as iconic as they are today with their nicknames. Naturally, their talents were bound to make them as huge as they are alone, but the monikers have surely influenced their pop culture foothold over the years.