Name Soundalikes

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Part of a series on Red Circle Perpetrators. [View Related Entries]

About

Name Soundalikes, also known as Name Lookalikes or LeBron James Name Lookalikes, are words and phrases that sound like LeBron James' name, among other celebrities and characters such as Markiplier or MrBeast, found in Google searches and on Wikipedia pages (some examples being "the Bronze Jade," "the Bomb Bay" and "the Bron Jame"). The screenshots are layered with red circles, arrows and lines that zoom in to a picture of James, or whomever the corresponding celebrity is. It also builds on the similar Red Circle Perpetrators trend. The meme started on Twitter in mid-2022 and then quickly spread to Instagram and Reddit.

Origin

On July 31st, 2022, Twitter^[1] user SouljaBoymoder tweeted a screenshot that circled the words "the Bronze Jade" and pointed to a red circled image of NBA player LeBron James in his Lakers uniform. Over the course of three weeks, the post received roughly 9,100 likes (shown below). This is the first-known, viral posting of the image other than a tweet from Twitter^[18] user notibussy that was uploaded roughly three hours prior and received three likes.

Spread

On August 1st, 2022, Instagram^[2] user willawanna reposted "the Bronze Jade" meme, receiving roughly 3,100 likes in three weeks. The aforementioned meme was reposted by multiple Instagram accounts going into the days following. On August 3rd, 2022, the Instagram^[3] page nocontextnba reposted the meme, earning roughly 11,300 likes in two weeks.

On August 16th, 2022, Instagram^[4] user willawanna furthered the trend, creating a similar image with the Wikipedia page for the "Bomb bay." Over the course of three days, the meme received roughly 3,000 likes (shown below).

On August 18th, 2022, Twitter^[9] user ThunderJoltTV tweeted three LeBron James Name Lookalikes, captioning them, "I need more of these," receiving roughly 8,000 likes in four days. A viral thread ensued, added to by many Twitter users who created multiple LeBron James Name Lookalikes.

Inspired by all of the iterations, on August 19th, 2022, Twitter^[10] user YogCrashNSmash tweeted a video of him doing a voice-over of all the Name Lookalikes with SpongeBob music playing in the background. The video received roughly 134,900 views and 22,300 likes in three days (shown below). It was later reposted to /r/OkBuddyRetard ^[17] on August 21st, 2022, earning roughly 7,800 upvotes in less than a day.

On August 19th, the "Bomb Bay" meme was reposted by Instagram^[5] user lilcousinfigure, earning roughly 4,200 likes in one day. Also on August 19th, Instagram^[6] user salad.snake reposted the "the Bronze Jade" iteration, earning roughly 68,800 likes in one day. Twitter^[19] user VLover256 also started a thread on August 19th of LeBron James Name Lookalikes, with the primary tweet receiving roughly 21,200 likes in two days.

On August 19th, 2022, Instagram^[7] user sebbybebby101 uploaded a carousel post with a few OC LeBron James Name Lookalikes as well as many reposts from ThunderJoltTV's Twitter thread. Sebbybebby101's post received only 27 likes in one day, however, on August 19th, Instagram^[8] user willawanna reposted his "the Bronze Age" iteration, earning roughly 3,100 likes in one day (shown below).

Markiplier Name Lookalikes

On August 20th, 2022, Twitter^[11] user RenlsDead tweeted a screenshot that circled the word "Multiplier" and zoomed in to a photo of YouTuber Markiplier. Over the course of two days, the meme received roughly 66,900 likes (shown below, left). Later on August 20th, Twitter^[12] user diour_ replied with a different Markiplier Name Lookalike, circling the words "for suppliers" in a Wikipedia screenshot. In two days, the meme received roughly 1,500 likes (shown below, right).

Later on August 20th, Instagram^[13] page squidyz reposted the original Markiplier Name Lookalike, earning roughly 29,000 likes in two days. More Instagram^[14] pages did the same, receiving viral engagement.

Other Name Lookalikes

Continuing into the remainder of August 2022, more celebrities and internet personalities received iterations made about them. For instance, on August 20th, 2022, Twitter^[15] user BruhKonata1 referenced YouTuber MrBeast in an iteration, earning roughly 5,900 likes in two days (shown below, left). On August 21st, 2022, Twitter^[16] user lucaspucasmusic posted an iteration that referenced YouTuber Scott The Woz, earning roughly 19,400 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Red Circle Perpetrators

Red Circle Perpetrators refers to a subset of memes in which a red circle is edited into images in a manner similar to clickbait images, with the circle showing a character not originally in the image, portraying them as present at the scene, usually as a perpetrator. Launched by Trojan Horse Chuu memes in late 2021, the format saw further spread in Summer 2022 with animal and Taylor Swift versions.