‘Gilmore Girls’ Was Named After an Oil Company, Reveals Key Costumer
Gilmore Girls fans have spent years debating all aspects of the famed dramedy, but only a few people have stopped to question where the Gilmores family name came from. The show’s key costumer, Valerie Campbell, recently revealed what inspired the family’s surname and the show’s title. Apparently, the Gilmore name was inspired by Gilmore Oil, a famed oil company from the early 1900s. Does that mean Richard Gilmore’s father was an oil tycoon, though?
‘Gilmore Girls’ key costumer reveals how the series got its name
It feels like almost every aspect of Gilmore Girls has been openly discussed and debated. Still, key costumer Valerie Campbell continues to entertain and excite fans with fun tidbits from her time on the set on TikTok. In February, Campbell revealed what inspired showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino to give the Gilmore family their surname. Campbell explained that Sherman-Palladino named the Gilmore family, and subsequently the show, after Gilmore Oil, a petroleum company that started in the early 1900s in California. The company is responsible for The Original Farmers Market in LA and various other shops and ventures.
Gilmore Girls had some other family names inspired by real-life families, although none were as on the nose as the Gilmore family name. The Huntzberger family was inspired by the Sulzberger family, which owns the New York Times. Mitchum Huntzberger was likely inspired by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr.
Paris Geller’s surname certainly feels like it’s begging fans to connect Paris to Friends. In the famed series, Monica Geller and Ross Geller resided in New York City, roughly two hours away from Paris’ Hartford home base.
Did the Gilmore family of ‘Gilmore Girls’ make their money in oil?
Gilmore Girls fans were introduced to some members of the fictional Gilmore family. Trix Gilmore, Richard Gilmore’s mother, made several appearances before she died, and cousin Marion was mentioned a few times, too. Lorelai Gilmore had cousins on her mother’s side and plenty of extended family members who were spoken about. Still, fans learned little about Richard Gilmore’s father.
Fans did learn that Richard’s father died before the start of Gilmore Girls. His passing must have been many years before the beginning of the series. Richard mentioned his first suit was purchased for his father’s funeral, and Emily Gilmore never mentioned knowing him. Presumably, he died before Richard graduated from Yale. So, could the fictional Gilmore family’s money have come from oil? Probably not.
While the Gilmore family of Gilmore Girls had generational wealth, it was never established exactly where it came from. Still, it’s assumed that the family was from the Northeast. Their association with Yale and Trix Gilmore’s keeping of a home in Connecticut are both clues. The Gilmore family of the famed oil company was originally from Illinois but built their business in California. They conducted that business largely on the West Coast. It seems like that Sherman-Palladino borrowed the name and not the inspiration family’s backstory for Gilmore Girls.
While we still don’t know where Richard Gilmore and his family got their money, we can safely assume it was not from the famed oil company that inspired the Gilmore Girls name. It would certainly be an interesting backstory to fill out, though.
