About

First and Last Letter Names is a series of TikTok videos stemming from a Twitter game in which participants discover their "new name" by removing the first and last letters of their first name. The videos, typically set to the 2010 Marina and the Diamonds song "Hollywood," feature the TikToker revealing their new name and then cutting to a comedic viral clip which includes a sound that matches their new name.

Origin

On February 3rd, 2020, TikToker @cartierchloe uploaded the first TikTok video revealing her new name and short comedic vine clip with matches her new name "hlo" (shown below). The video gained over 124,400 likes in eight days.

Precursor

The social game of removing a name's first and last letter to create a new game has existed on Twitter well before the series of TikTok videos. For example, on March 6th, 2019, Twitter user @BossUbong^[1] proposed the game in a tweet which accumulated over 3,600 likes in a year (shown below, left). On January 25th, Twitter user @jannatjaved_^[2] tweeted, "Remove the first and last letter of your name. Let's see how cool is your new name" and gained over 76,400 likes in a month and was used as a green screen background in many of the TikTok videos (shown below, right).

Spread

On February 4th, 2020, Twitter user @aIonebandito^[3] tweeted a Lord Marquaad E with the caption, "tik tok: remove the first and last letter in your name. me:" (shown below).

That same day, Many TikTok users began finding other viral videos that match the sound of their new names. TikToker @jgracewillis posted a video of a dog coughing to match her new name "rac" (shown below, left). The video accumulated over 1.3 million likes in a week. The next day, TikToker @save.infinity uploaded another itration which received over 100,200 likes in six days (shown below, center). On February 7th, TikToker @_samjose_ matched his new name "a" with the sound of a turtle having sex (shown below, right). The video gained over 146,500 likes in four days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References