Elon Musk fans confused as he suddenly changes his name online

Social media followers of Elon Musk have once again been left perplexed this week by the controversial tech boss' behaviour - but then again, what else is new?

This time, however, eagle-eyed fans noticed that the 53-year-old had seemingly changed his name online, going from 'Elon Musk' on his self-owned site X (formerly Twitter), to 'Kekius Maximus'.

According to reports, the father-of-one made the alteration to his social media moniker on Tuesday - which also happened to be NYE (31 December).

As such, some have been left wondering whether Musk might be taking the phrase 'new year, new me' slightly too seriously - among other, less bizarre theories, of course.

For those seeking a bit of background, being the richest man in the world, the Tesla boss boasts almost 210 million followers on X - an app that he's held ownership of since 2022.

Whilst he's gone by the official handle @elonmusk since he joined Twitter in 2009, however, as we say, he recently changed his profile's title from the same, to 'Kekius Maximus'.

As well as making an amendment to his moniker, Musk has also changed his profile avatar from a photo of himself to one of Pepe the Frog - a famous comic character and Internet meme made famous by cartoonist Matt Furie in the late noughties - donning gladiator-like armor.

I know, it just keeps getting weirder.

Musk has changed his name online (X/@elonmusk)

While Musk - who also hit headlines last week after revealing what he’s used to help new weight loss transformation - hasn't yet issued a full explanation over his new title, some hypotheses have been floating around online.

Some believe the Roman-like frog in his new picture and the intricate title of his new user name could allude to Russell Crowe's character from Gladiator, Maximus Decimus Meridius - the Paul Mescal sequel of which was released last month.

The fact that Pepe the Frog is said to have been associated with white supremacists and the right-wing rise in the US since Donald Trump's original 2016 presidential campaign, however, means this theory isn't one to be taken lightly.

Especially given that following his second victory in November, Trump hired close-knit confidant Musk as the new co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency last month.

That said, though, Musk has previously denied the meme's association with such ideas.

Another theory, meanwhile, links his name-change to the world of gaming, after he shared a tweet soon afterwards reading, 'Kekius Maximus will soon reach level 80 in hardcore PoE'.

The alteration has left some fans baffled (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Being that 'PoE' is supposedly a reference to the popular Path of Exile 2 video game - which Musk is known to play - the alteration may have been spurred by something as menial as this.

Thirdly, some believe the name 'Kekius Maximus' could be the name of a 'memecoin', a form of cryptocurrency based on the much-loved frog meme.

Musk is recognised around the world for his involvement in the crypto market - specifically with dogecoin - and 'Kekius Maximus's' crypto value has skyrocketed more than 900 percent since his name change online.

Good luck figuring that last one out, guys - I'm just hoping he's a Gladiator fan...