When it comes to lore, no one can top Dolly Parton.
Along with once losing a Dolly Parton lookalike contest, funding a COVID vaccine, and saving a child actor on set, Parton was also named after the world’s first cloned sheep for the craziest reason.
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In February 1997, the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, made history when they announced they had cloned the first animal from an adult cell. Professor Ian Wilmut led the team and revealed that Dolly the Sheep was named after the country legend because she was grown from a single mammary cell.
Yes, Parton’s bosom was the inspiration for Dolly the sheep’s name.
“Dolly is derived from a mammary gland cell [of a sheep], and we couldn’t think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton’s,” Professor Wilmut reportedly said at the time.
As expected, the “Jolene” singer was flattered by the decision, and even mourned Dolly the Sheep’s death in 2003.
“Everybody always played up to these [points to her chest], so that’s why we had Dolly the sheep,” Parton told The Guardian in 2024. “I was sorry when she died, though I don’t want be cloned myself. I want to get on out of here when I can. We already get a lot of Dolly lookalikes, a lot of Dolly drag queens. I can just send them down to the store instead of me.”
Dolly the sheep was sadly euthanized at the age of 6 due to progressive lung disease. However, her body was preserved and is on display at the National Museum of Scotland. Dolly was also cloned four times, and her “siblings” were named Daisy, Debbie, Dianna, and Denise.
Sadly, Parton passed away at the age of 80 on August 25, 2026, but she will always be remembered for her incredible life, which included a cloned sheep.