Malibu Barbie? Elvis?
Those with internet access over the age of 12 probably would recognize the name Trisha Paytas. Those who don’t recognize her name alone would surely recognize at least one of her countless viral videos. She has popular video clips from podcasts, her involvement in David Dobrik’s “Vlog Squad,” her participation in several TV programs, and her TikTok and Instagram accounts.
Trisha Paytas saw her rise on YouTube, on which she posts video content for the world to see. An influencer since the 2010s, Trisha has seen and taken her part in her fair share of trends and challenges. I’d say that Trisha is among the more controversial members of the internet and, in her years of fame, has been the subject of some criticism. I will not go into the details of her controversies since that would be a long and complicated conversation.
As of right now, Trisha’s most famous platform is probably TikTok. Her account has amassed a whopping 9 million loyal followers who tune into her videos. For the most part, Trisha posts content about her baby daughter, Malibu Barbie, and her husband, Moses. When not posting about these two, Trisha’s videos tend to be some kind of short clip of her doing a quirky dance, singing a song, or just talking about her day.
Lately, another kind of video has entered Trisha’s content rotation: posts about her next baby. Trisha first announced her second pregnancy in November in a post alongside her husband and daughter. The baby is set to be born later in 2024 and was recently announced to be a girl. The only issue with this: Trisha is naming the kid Elvis.
Before the gender of the baby was ever known or announced, Trisha knew she would name the baby Elvis. She claims to have known since twelve years old that she wanted use the names Malibu and Elvis for her children. So, from the get-go, that would be the name: Elvis Paytas-Hacman. I can’t say I thought I’d see the day another famous Elvis entered this world until I heard about Trisha’s baby. But I guess here we are. The name announcement of Elvis has unsurprisingly earned Trisha copious attention in her comment sections.
An army of fans has flooded Trisha’s comments, begging her to name her daughter a name that’s more… appropriate. The most popular name suggested is Presley, which I think is a lovely name. Presley will satisfy that Elvis-superfan side of Trisha that has seemingly infiltrated her judgment, and the name itself is quite pretty. It’s a great compromise.
Trisha has shown no sign of choosing a different name for her next child. In fact, in a video posted on January 10th earlier this year, Trisha responded to the backlash she’s gotten for the name Elvis and said she is set on that name. She went as far as to say in the video that she’s “Always meant to have Elvis in [her] life” and that she wishes she herself were named Elvis. Apparently, Trisha’s love of Elvis runs deep. Honestly, though, when Trisha named her last kid Malibu Barbie, a lot of people reacted similarly to how they are now; Trisha’s baby names are pretty unorthodox. The thing is, people have seemed to have gotten used to Malibu’s name despite the initial uproar. Now, no one really bats an eye at the mention of her name in videos despite early criticism of the name all those months ago when Malibu was born.
So, will Trisha go through with naming her daughter Elvis? Or will she let up? I can’t say I can see her naming her kid or something else since she’s had her sights set on the name for some years. Thus, the real question is, will the internet get used to the name Elvis the way it eventually did Malibu Barbie?