Elon Musk Changes His Display Name on X to “Gorklon Rust”

The tech billionaire and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX changed his display name on X (formerly Twitter) to “Gorklon Rust”

Elon Musk, known for his unpredictable online antics, had another round of netizens guessing after changing his display name on X (formerly Twitter) to "Gorklon Rust." The tech billionaire and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX made the switch on Sunday, blending several references in the new moniker.

The first part, "Gorklon," appears to be a playful spin on Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Musk's xAI. The second part, "Rust," likely alludes to the Rust programming language, known for safety, speed, and efficiency — and reportedly part of xAI's tech stack.

However, there's another layer to this name change. "Gorklon Rust" is also the name of a meme coin on the Solana blockchain, currently trading on decentralized platforms like PumpSwap, Raydium, and Meteora. While Musk hasn't directly promoted the token, his past influence on crypto markets means any hint of endorsement, intentional or not, has consequences.

Within hours of the name change, the meme coin saw a surge in interest and speculative trading. Some users on X also began discussing the token, suggesting that Musk might be poking fun at the wave of Solana-based meme coins or perhaps is subtly trying to hype the coin.

This isn't Musk's first foray into bizarre online identities. In February, he briefly adopted the name Harry Bolz, a move that sparked a frenzy of memes. In December, he changed his display name to Kekius Maximus, a mash-up of Pepe the Frog — a popular meme symbol — and Maximus Decimus Meridius, the Roman general portrayed by Russell Crowe in Gladiator. At the time, his profile picture featured Pepe in golden armor holding a gaming controller.

These identity shifts have become part of Musk's ongoing brand of social media performance, equal parts absurdity, meme culture immersion, and attention engineering.

This latest move comes as X is rolling out several updates to its recommendation system, which will now include a lightweight version of Grok.

"The recommendation algorithm is being replaced with a lightweight version of @Grok, so will soon be dramatically better!" Musk announced on Saturday. "You should notice some improvement already."

This latest update is part of Musk's broader vision to transform X into an "everything app" with AI at its core, ranging from real-time search and content recommendations to chatbot services. So far, he has launched several AI-powered features, including xAI's Summary with Grok and a voice note transcription service powered by DeepMind's model.

Whether "Gorklon Rust" is a cryptic signal, a meme-layered joke, or just another eccentric move, Musk once again proves that he understands the mechanics of modern attention. The name itself merges key aspects of his digital empire — AI, programming, crypto, and an unyielding dose of chaos.

And while there’s no official statement explaining the meaning behind “Gorklon Rust,” the ripple effect is evident as crypto traders, meme creators, and tech enthusiasts are all keeping a close eye on this latest development.