7 Old Hollywood Couple Names

In today's pop culture climate, shipping celebrity couples is secondhand nature. The second a new celeb couple emerges, they're immediately branded with a perfectly fitting portmanteau, a moniker that combines both lovers' names into one so fans can easily declare their allegiance (I'll forever be #TeamHaylor, but that's besides the point). But before the days of Brangelina and Hiddleswift (and long before a time of Larry Stylinson), Old Hollywood couples had some nicknames of their own.

There's something to be said about love in the time of Old Hollywood: It was a glamorous, sweep-you-off-your-feet type of romance, the kind that fans read about in newspapers and magazines and saw in movies, sighing with envy and hopeful dreams of their own relationships. It was the type of #CoupleGoals where, at least on the surface, everything was tinged with a soft glow — everyone was happy, and the couple just exuded elegance and romance.

So perhaps it's not surprising that some Old Hollywood pairs were gifted with couple names, usually nicknamed so by the press. In fact, you can check out seven ship names of some favorite Old Hollywood couples below — couples whose names were already bestowed upon them during their time period, or, posthumously, dubbed by yours truly.

1. Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall (Bogie & Bacall)

Truth be told, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall's romance was so iconic that their adoring public (and the equally-as-adoring media) already gifted the actors with a ship name for the ages — Bogie & Bacall. It might not be an exact portmanteau, but the moniker will forever conjure up images of glamour, romance, and true love. And therefore, it's best to leave their couple name intact — as it was, and as it always will be.

2. Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz (Desilu)

The I Love Lucy stars created their own ship name themselves, naming their production company "Desilu" by combining their first names into one.

3. Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn (Tracy & Hepburn)

Like Bogie and Bacall, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn's couple name is not so much a portmanteau, but simply a rehashing of their last names. But when you refer to the pair — who frequently starred in films together during the time period — as just "Tracy and Hepburn," everyone knows exactly who you're speaking about. No other couple name needed.

4. Vivien Leigh & Laurence Olivier (Vivier)

Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier (pronounced like Oh-live-ee-ay) are lucky in that her first name and his last have some similar sounds. Which is exactly why Vivier (Viv-ee-ay) is the perfect ship name for the one-time glamorous couple. It just rolls off the tongue, don't you think?

5. Clark Gable & Carole Lombard (Clarole)

The Gone With the Wind star and glamorous actor's marriage may have been filled with love, but it was not one dubbed with a couple name. Hence the idea of Clarole (a combination of "Clark" and "Carole") that I'm presenting them with now.

6. Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton (Elizaburton)

Taylor and Burton's love was one for the ages (the two were married and divorced twice), and the two were nicknamed Liz & Dick — at least in that Lifetime movie starring Lindsay Lohan. Personally, I find Elizaburton — a combination of her first name and his last — to be a bit more fitting myself.

7. Frank Sinatra & Ava Gardner (Frava Singardner)

While this portmanteau is a little clunky, I have to give myself just a little bit of credit here, since Sinatra and Gardner's ship name — Frava Singardner — actually sounds like it could be the name of a real person. Does it do the blue-eyed singer and elegant actor justice? Not necessarily, but I'm not sure there's a name glamorous enough in the world to truly capture the essence of their romance.

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