 After World War II (with early references, in ironic use, from the late 1930s) the diminutive figurines introduced as lawn ornaments during the 19th century came to be known as garden gnomes.The image of the gnome changed further during the 1960s to 1970s, when the first plastic garden gnomes were manufactured.These gnomes followed the style of the 1937 depiction of the seven dwarves in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" by Disney.