Daddy's girl is a phrase that can be interpreted in two ways. First, a daddy's girl can be the result of the way in which a man dotes on his daughter, coddling and protecting her and giving her whatever she wants. A daddy's girl knows that she is her father’s life and often takes advantage of the fact that he can’t stand to see her cry. A daddy's girl can never do anything wrong and is as innocent as the day is long.

Because a daddy's girl is the light of her father’s life, she may be under lock and key. In fact a daddy's girl may proudly - or not - declare that she is owned by her father. A father might try to shelter his daughter from all the unsavory aspects of life, preventing her from developing her independence.

With the view that she is delicate and helpless, a daddy's girl can easily turn into a little princess. However, the opposite is often true as well. A daddy's girl can learn from her father how to play sports, climb trees, fix things, and so on. In this way, a daddy's girl can also become a tomboy. Many daddy's girls feel frustrated when they reach adolescence and develop an interest in dating, because their fathers rarely think that any boy will ever be good enough to date their daughter.

The second meaning of a daddy's girl is a girl that shows a great particularity for her father and does everything to please him. A daddy's girl puts her father on top of the world where no other man could ever measure up. This type of daddy's girl strives to impress her father, seeking approval, and is highly concerned about how he thinks of her. This situation is a great example of the Electra complex, a psychoanalytic concept that refers to a female’s unconscious tendency to form a close attachment to her father and to subsequently exhibit hostility to her mother. The daddy's girl of the Electra complex is comparable to the mamma’s boy illustrated in the psychoanalytic concept of the Oedipus complex.