Fake News: California Newborn Did NOT Become First Baby To Be Named An Emoji: 😍😍😍

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: California Newborn Did NOT Become First Baby To Be Named An Emoji: 😍😍😍

Was a baby in Berkeley, California named "😍😍😍 Reiner" by her parents? No, that's not true, the story was made up as a joke by a satire site but went massively viral.

The story originated from an article published by Pretty Cool Site (PCS- on February 3, 2019 titled "California Newborn becomes first baby to be named an emoji: 😍😍😍" (archived here) which opened:

California newborn becomes first baby to be named an emoji: Her first name is "😍😍😍".
The United States is among the lightest of the naming laws worldwide governing given names and this freedom has given rise to a wide variety of names and naming trends. Cultural diversity in the U.S. has led to great variations in names and naming traditions. Names have been used to express creativity, personality, cultural identity, and values.

Since the recent Windows XP update all US states allow to use special characters for filling birth certificates.

Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:

California Newborn becomes first baby to be named an emoji: 😍😍😍

California newborn becomes first baby to be named an emoji: Her first name is "😍😍😍". The United States is among the lightest of the naming laws worldwide governing given names and this freedom has given rise to a wide variety of names and naming trends. Cultural diversity in the U.S.

This is a fake news site and it has to be treated as a joke!

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  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

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