A TikTok trend called ‘Y/N’ has taken over the social media platform in recent days but many are puzzled about the meaning behind the abbreviation.
Trends and challenges on TikTok go viral every single day with users across the globe flocking to share their own take on the app.
Recently, users have been talking about new videos with the abbreviation ‘Y/N’ and many want to know more about the trend.
Here’s everything you need to know about it, including its origin and meaning.
‘Y/N’ trend takes over TikTok
Videos containing the abbreviation ‘Y/N’ trend have become extremely popular on TikTok.
The hashtag #yn has amassed the whopping 11.9 billion views at the time of writing with a series of creative videos from users around the world.
Most often, the videos contain pictures of celebrities or short clips from movies, followed by ‘Y/N’ in almost every single sentence.
In other clips, TikTok users film themselves as they react to videos and images, using the same phrase.
But what exactly does it mean and where does the phrase originate from?
Who is ‘Y/N’?
First things first, for those who are confused we want to explain that ‘Y/N’ is not a person. It is actually an abbreviation and means ‘Your Name’.
The phrase was first coined among social media users on Wattpad, Twitter and Tumblr nearly 10 years ago.
‘Your Name’ refers to fanfiction in younger fan bases where the writer lets the reader to include themselves by using ‘Y/N’ or ‘YN’.
Therefore, if you come across videos with the abbreviation and images of celebrities, this is simply the creator behind the video putting themselves in the shoes of other people.
Though it’s not confirmed when the phrase first became popular, some sites note that it first appeared on Twitter in 2011.
Twitter reacts to trend
Twitter is always a good place to check when trends take over on TikTok because some of users’ reactions could be hilarious.
One Twitter user shared that they had to explain the meaning of ‘Y/N’ to someone:
Alex was watching TikTok videos, and has just asked me who Y/N is, and I’ve had to explain that it means “your name”😂😂😂
— Danni Williams💀 (@_forbookssake) September 11, 2022
Someone else is really into the ‘Y/N’ trend:
my favourite thing to do now is watch those y/n stories on tiktok THEHRE SO@FUNNY IM PEEINF
— mk (@jitakhq) September 9, 2022
Another user is baffled why this trend has resurfaced in the spotlight:
Someone else is already finding the trend cringy:
these tiktok y/n fil povs are cringing the heck out of me.
— elli (@0910wonlvr) September 16, 2022
