Eldest Daughter Syndrome

Submission 1,279

About

Eldest Daughter Syndrome, also known as Eldest Daughter Core or Oldest Daughter Syndrome, refers to a brooding characterization of a family's "eldest daughter" who's portrayed as being affected by her responsibility that started at a young age. "Eldest daughter" became a popular term and piece of slang on TikTok and elsewhere in 2024, leading to interest about whether or not Eldest Daughter Syndrome was real. Jokes about being the eldest daughter first surfaced on Twitter / X in 2017. "Eldest Daughter Syndrome" was first coined on TikTok in 2020.

Origin

Currently, the earliest known viral post about being an eldest / oldest daughter was tweeted by X^[1] user @BeeBabs on June 27th, 2017, reading, "Being the eldest daughter really feels like being an unpaid intern version of young mother sometimes you know," earning over 3,200 likes in seven years (shown below).

Currently, the earliest known utterance of the term "Eldest Daughter Syndrome" was in a video posted by TikToker^[2] @holymolytodoroki on July 30th, 2020, in which she was responding to a comment (left on her previous TikTok^[3]) to describe what she meant by "Eldest Daughter Syndrome" when characterizing an anime character.

The TikToker described Eldest Daughter Syndrome as "getting the compounded experiences of the family" while also "being a woman." The video received over 120,300 plays and 28,500 likes in four years (shown below).

Spread

Going into the 2020s, content about being the eldest / oldest daughter gained more virality. For instance, on February 22nd, 2021, TikToker^[4] @horsethey posted a video, joking about the oldest daughter being the only opponent for a narcissistic father, gaining over 459,400 plays and 80,500 likes in three years (shown below, left). The video later gained more viral copycats on TikTok.^[5]

On November 8th, 2021, TikToker^[6] @madt1nngg posted a "How it feels being the eldest daughter" edit that featured clips from Shameless with the eldest daughter character Fiona Gallagher (played by Emmy Rossum), gaining over 41,500 likes in four years (shown below, right).

So-called "Eldest Daughter Core" videos continued to use clips of Fiona Gallagher going into the 2020s. For instance, on October 5th, 2023, TikToker^[7] @ilovelezzies posted an "Eldest Daughter Core" video using a scene from Shameless, earning over 2 million plays and 317,700 likes in five months (shown below, left).

Content about being an eldest / oldest daughter and usage of the term "Eldest Daughter Syndrome" continued into 2024, evident in a video shared by TikToker^[8] @katimorton on February 5th, 2024, that received over 5.5 million plays and 387,300 likes in a month (shown below, right).

During the same timeframe, posts about being the eldest daughter spread on X, where parodies of the term ensued. For instance, on March 3rd, 2024, X^[9] user @saucherie tweeted, "saw this reel that said 'no one thrives more in an airport than a solo travelling eldest daughter' and like YES so true," gaining over 95,000 likes in four days (shown below, left).

The post was quoted by others who made fun of @saucherie's tweet, like X^[10] user @GRRLCROOSH on March 4th, 2024, who added a Year 2030 meme referencing other buzzword terms like former gifted child, earning over 99,000 likes in three days (shown below, right).