About

Kevin Nguyen is an online caricature of a young Asian male with bro or frat-like inclinations. The character was named after one of the most popular Vietnamese male names in the United States. In 2018, the name came to be associated with raves, suburban life and an upper-class sense of style.

Origin

On October 31st, 2018, Twitter user @oblyviann^[4] tweeted, "asian boys with fake hood accents make me laugh like okay kevin nguyen" (shown below). The tweet gained over 45,700 likes and 10,300 retweets in a year. The meme was believed to be popularized or started in the Facebook group Subtle Asian Traits^[3] which was created on September 16, 2018.^[9]

Precursor

On June 18th, 2011 Urban Dictionary^[1] user Kilton defined Kevin Nguyen as the "Most common name in the Asian world for males." On October 24th, 2014, Kevin Nguyen^[2] decided to publish an article about the commonality of his name saying:

"It's funny following all these other Kevin Nguyens just because they are all overwhelmingly boring. They reflect the normalcy of Kevin and the first- or second-generation effect of Nguyen. But if there is a tension between these two names--one that identifies them to people as American, another that identifies them as something else--these Twitter accounts present lives that seem to exist comfortably between them. "

Spread

On August 13th, 2019, @chongmandan^[5] tweeted a "kevin nguyen starter kit" complete with Juul pods and boba (shown below, left). The tweet garnered over 500 likes in a month. On September 6th, Twitter user claimed that Kevin Nguyen Is The Most Embarassing Thing To Happen To The Asian People" to which another Twitter user ask "Can someone explain?" Twitter user @phvmz^[6] explained that "A “Kevin Nguyen” is a generic name for a suburban Asian American guy (vietnamese to be exact) in which they typically go to raves, do hard drugs, say the n-word, in which is a disgrace to our people" (shown below, right).

On September 18th, Twitter user @ikiyax^[7] tweeted, "Ok the cute asian girls dating white guys thing is true tragic and funny but u really can't join in on that clowning if your bf is a kevin nguyen hoop earring 5'6" skinny black jeans and cdgs pants chain type LMAOOOO" (shown below, left). The next day, a Twitter user named Kevin Nguyen^[8] tweeted, "The thing I like most about the Kevin Nguyen meme is that it’s the most succinct way to acknowledge the whiplash and failure of Vietnamese American assimilation" (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References