About

Kekius Maximus is a catchphrase that is a derivative of "kek," itself a formerly prevalent alternative to saying "lol." The phrase is a combination of "kek," a common Ancient Roman name ending in -us (such as Flavius of Claudius) and the Ancient Roman surname Maximus. The catchphrase has been used as a humorous and more flavorful alternative to saying "kek" at least since 2014, primarily on 4chan. In December 2024, multiple $KEKIUS meme coins were created following entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk using the catchphrase on X / Twitter. The price of the coin surged in late December 2024 after Musk temporarily set "Kekius Maximus" as his X handle.

Origin

The catchphrase "Kekius Maximus," used in a way similar to "lol" to react to something funny, is a portmanteau of "kek" and an Ancient Roman name such as Flavius Maximus. "Kek" originated as a translation of the acronym "lol" when written by members of the Horde faction and viewed by Alliance members in World of Warcraft and became a popular alternative to "lol" in the late 2000s and early 2010s, primarily on 4chan. Kekius Maximus likely references Maximus Decimus Meridius, the main character in Ridley Scott's film Gladiator, and has been associated with imagery of gladiators and soldiers of Ancient Rome for many years. Additionally, "Kekius" translates to "the greatest" or "largest", with the phrase therefore literally translating to "the greatest kek" (while "great kek" is itself a common expression).

While the exact origin of the catchphrase is unknown, it has been used on 4chan^[1][2][3] at least since 2014, typically used to react to humorous content (example post shown below).

Spread

The catchphrase saw widespread use across 4chan in the 2010s and 2020s alongside other memes deviating from "kek" (example post shown below).

December 2024 Virality

On December 13th, 2024, American entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk wrote, "Kekius Maximus 😂," on X,^[4] replying to another user. The post (shown below) received over 29 million views, 11,000 reposts and 96,000 likes in three weeks.

On December 31st, 2024, Musk set "Kekius Maximus" as his username on X,^[5][6] changing his profile picture to an AI-generated image of Pepe the Frog wearing Ancient Roman armor and holding a video game controller in his hands (shown below).

In the following hours, Musk and his alleged sock puppet account Adrian Dittmann made more posts mentioning the catchphrase, with multiple accounts that commonly interact with Musk on X also making posts about it.

$KEKIUS Meme Coins

Following the initial "Kekius Maximus" post by Elon Musk in mid-December 2024 and later following him setting the phrase as his username on X two weeks later, multiple $KEKIUS meme coins were created on Pump.fun. ^[7] The price of the most prominent $KEKIUS cryptocurrency coin reached $0.15 on December 31st following Musk adopting the username (price chart shown below).^[8]

Also on December 31st, 2024, it was reported by Finbold^[9] that an anonymous trader turned a $55,000 investment into $1 million with the Kekius Maximus (KEKIUS) meme coin after Musk embraced the name, which caused it to surge by 980 percent in value.

Search Interest

External References