Tech Desk 
May 05, 2025
An undated image. — Depositphotos
In a bizarre move, Elon Musk has once again caused a stir on the internet, changing his display name on X (formerly Twitter) to “Gorklon Rust”.
The name was reportedly changed on Sunday, prompting a wave of speculation about the meaning and intent behind it.
“Gorklon Rust” appears to be a fusion of a tech reference. The closest indication of the first part, “Gorklon”, is believed to be Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot built by Musk’s xAI, while “Rust” is anticipated to stand for the Rust programming language, praised for its safety and performance. The programming language is also reportedly used by xAI.
It's surprising that “Gorklon Rust” is also the name of a meme coin on the Solana blockchain. Although the tech tycoon did not promote the token, crypto traders jumped on the bandwagon, leading to a sudden spike in speculative interest.
Given Musk's history of influencing cryptocurrency markets through such cryptic posts, it was also suspected that the move could be just a prank.
This isn’t Musk’s first take on odd online aliases, as his past names on X include “Harry Bolz” and “Kekius Maximus”, both of which caused short-lived frenzy among netizens.
The notable aspect of the story is that the timing of this name swap aligns with Musk’s announcement of AI-powered upgrades to X’s recommendation algorithm, meaning that this could be a hint at a connection between his identity play and upcoming tech updates.
