The use of "baby" as a romantic pet name for women became popular in the 1900s-1920s Jazz Age. African American jazz and blues culture drove the adoption, with artists using "baby" in lyrics as a term of affection. Before that, the word just meant an actual infant. The romantic usage spread through popular music into mainstream American English. By the 1950s and 60s, rock and roll had cemented it as a default term of endearment. "Babe" followed a similar path. Both terms originated in Black vernacular and became controversial as they crossed into mainstream white usage, stripped of their original cultural context.
The use of "baby" as a romantic pet name for women became popular in the 1900s-1920s Jazz Age. African American jazz and blues culture drove the adoption, with artists using "baby" in lyrics as a term of affection. Before that, the word just meant an actual infant. The romantic usage spread through popular music into mainstream American English. By the 1950s and 60s, rock and roll had cemented it as a default term of endearment. "Babe" followed a similar path. Both terms originated in Black vernacular and became controversial as they crossed into mainstream white usage, stripped of their original cultural context.