Rare Usernames

About

Rare Usernames is a slang term for online usernames that are particularly unique or hard to acquire, often for being a single word or phrase without extra numbers, letters or punctuation due to unavailability, as well as a username that includes unique emojis or characters from pop culture. There is no set definition for what makes a rare username. Rare usernames are valued highly on TikTok and in community-driven online games like Roblox, Runescape and Minecraft.

Origin

The idea of certain usernames being rare and desirable has existed online for an unknown length of time, with examples dating back well before 2010.

One of the earliest examples can be seen in a January 10th, 2004, post to The Tolkien Forum^[1] by rare username holder "Úlairi" titled "The 'Lucky Username' thread!" In the post, Úlairi talks about how they've noticed users with rare Lord Of The Rings inspired usernames on the site, writing:

I was just noticing today that there are a few people with 'lucky usernames' on the forum.

I will define that phrase ('lucky username') as someone having a username that is a common name throughout the texts of Tolkien, in its pure form. Like Gandalf instead of Gandalftherapper2004 or something like that! ;) My name Úlairi is pure, but it is also a 'rare' name, and is therefore not chosen commonly by newbies. However, a 'rare' username (like 'Gandalf') would also be Elrond, or Frodo/Frodo Baggins on this forum. So, all you with what you consider to be 'lucky usernames', step forth and announce thyself!

The thread inspired a number of replies from users with "lucky" usernames, including a user named "Gandalf The Grey" and "Éomond."

Spread

Seeking out rare usernames is particularly popular among gamers, but is practiced to some degree on most social media platforms.

On September 18th, 2008, YouTuber startalchin posted a video showing off screenshots of rare usernames from the video game Runescape, garnering over 11,000 views in 13 years (shown below, left). On January 7th, 2011, YouTuber
Course Grinder posted a video on how to find a rare Xbox Live Gamertag, garnering over 142,000 views in 10 years (shown below, right).

On June 29th, 2011, Mashable^[3] published an article by Stephanie Buck collecting screenshots of the Twitter users with the shortest usernames, all only a single character long (examples shown below). On April 12th, 2015, Redditor^[4] u/DarkNotch made a post to /r/Minecraft asking users to share rare usernames they've encountered.

On October 29th, 2019, YouTuber KonekoKitten posted a video discussing rare Roblox usernames, garnering over 2.2 million views in just under two years (shown below).

On March 23rd, 2020, Redditor u/TylerJNA posted to /r/2007scape, a Runescape subreddit, writing, "This is how your email inbox looks when you have a rare username," along with a screenshot showing many attempts by users to hack into his account, garnering over 1,000 upvotes in a year (shown below).

Rare Name Hangout Roblox

Rare usernames are particularly desirable on Roblox, highly supported by videos by Roblox YouTuber Fave (examples shown below, left and right).

On October 5th, 2020, Roblox player fskt, along with unroot, martxn, and hlelo_world, created a server called the "Rare Name Hangout,"^[2] which ranks players' usernames based on a specific algorithm upon entering. The server has been played over 460,000 times in seven months, with over 5,000 favorites.

On December 7th, YouTuber Kaden Fumblebottom posted a video attempting to get a rare Roblox username then going to the hangout to have it ranked and mingle with other rare username players, garnering over 116,000 views in seven months (shown below).

TikTok

On August 22nd, 2020, TikToker @adriannaaep posted a video set to "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" consisting of text reading "why does everyone in the comments have a rare a$$ username," baiting users with unique names to comment (shown below). The video gained over 700,000 views in nine months and over 35,000 comments, many from users with arguably rare names, including top-rated comments from users "musically," "drydick" and "lol."^[5][6][7]

TikTokers have been known to comment on the videos of users with what they consider to be "rare usernames" making explicit mention of the username, asking hypothetical questions like, "who did you kill to get that username?" An example of this can be seen in the comments of an October 2020 upload by TikToker^[8] @𝖧𝗂.

On March 12th, 2021, @𝖧𝗂. posted a rare username baiting video, garnering over 2.1 million views and 113,000 comments in two months (shown below, left). On March 30th, TikToker @milk posted a video in which he describes how he got the rare username "milk," garnering over 3.1 million views in under two months, inspiring a similar flock of rare username users to the comments (shown below, right).

On May 3rd, TikToker @imarealnigger posted a video with the on-screen text, "imagine not having a rare name," garnering over 510,000 views in two weeks (shown below). The user has since changed his name to @imarealillegal.

Rare username content is largely on TikTok collected under the hashtags "#rareusername," "#rareusernames," and "#ogusername," posting over 70 million collective views on videos under the tags.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References