Ty retires Malia, Sasha dolls, renames them Mariah, Sydney

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the "Marvelous Malia" and "Sweet Sasha" dolls seemingly inspired by the Obama girls have been retired by Ty. The paper says:

A Ty spokeswoman declined to comment, but the company's Web site featured pictures of the dolls marked with the word "retired.''

The dolls, which debuted in January, were criticized by Michelle Obama and others for using the names of the two Obama children, Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10.

A company representative first told reporters that the dolls were inspired by the Obama girls after company founder H. Ty Warner saw the daughters and thought they were "cute.'' The company later backed off that storyline, saying that the monikers of the African-American dolls -- Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia -- were chosen because they "are beautiful names.''

The Obamas weren't buying it, releasing a statement that "we believe it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes.''

Related: Maker of Obama art dolls 'thinks twice' about making dolls of kids (Baltimore Examiner)

Update:

• Ty has renamed the dolls Marvelous Mariah and Sweet Sydney (People)
• Lawyers plan to limit commercial use of first family's image (UPI)

Previously:

• Slate's Bazelon: Obamas are walking parenting-press tightrope
• Washington Post columnist: Michelle Obama should "embrace" Sasha, Malia dolls
• Tribune writer: Obama dolls a sign of racial progress
• White House calls Ty's Sasha and Malia dolls 'inappropriate'