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Great question. I didn't come across any explanation for this, but I did dig up some other names for cotton candy around the world:

France: Barbe a papa ("Papa's beard")

Greece: μαλλιά γριά του ("old lady's hair")

Great Britain: Candy floss

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I can't say with absolute certainty that it's called this across the entire country, but in my part of Sweden it's called "spunnet socker", which translates to "spun sugar". Certainly seems more appetizing than beard or hair at least. :)

In Dutch, we switch those words, and call it "suikerspin", which could be translated as "Sugar Spider" or "Spun Sugar", I suppose.

Wow! In Gujarati it's also called "old lady's hair".

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