Baby French Bulldogs Are Now Called ‘Pibbles’ Because Of A Series Of Memes About One Named ‘Gmail’

About

Pibble is an internet^[1] slang^[2] term for a French bulldog puppy, often pictured lying on its back with its belly up. The term “pibble” was originally used to mean “Pitbull” in the Doggo-Speak^[3] trend from the late 2010s. In 2023, the Handleheld Pupper / Geeble^[4] photo and its exploitable^[5] series went viral online, showing a baby French bulldog held in someone’s hand. The image, and others like it, were later called “Pibble” in image macro^[6] and viral video^[7] memes^[8] on Instagram^[9] and TikTok^[10]. Some image caption memes from the time period nonsensically referred to the animal as “Gmail.” A song known by the lyrics, “I am Pibble, wash my belly,” also went viral on TikTok^[11] that year. The T-Pose Puppy^[12] is another notable Pibble image from meme history.

Origin

The original definition of “Pibble” was a Doggo-Speak term for “pitbull.” Its earliest known use on Twitter / X^[13] was in a tweet from the X account Hero the Pibble (@hero_the_pibble) on August 3rd, 2008.

The term was used for pitbulls heading into the late 2010s. For instance, it was used by the Facebook^[14] account Marvel the Super Hero Pibble as early as February 28th, 2014.

The earliest photo tagged^[15] with “pibble” in the Know Your Meme^[16] database was shared by user kkduer on March 14th, 2014.

The first viral tweet to use the word was shared by actor Patrick Stewart on his X account @SirPatStew on March 9th, 2017. It was used to caption a video of his “foster pibble Ginger,” gaining over 14,000 likes in eight years.

“Pibble,” as used to describe a baby French bulldog, didn’t surface until 2023, coinciding with the rise of Instagram user @pibble12, who shared their first Instagram post on August 10th, 2023, gaining over 4,200 likes in two years.

The post showed the Handheld Pupper photo of a French bulldog puppy being held in someone’s hand, which was first posted on X on November 1st, 2022.

Later on August 10th, Instagram user @pibble12 shared a series of Pibble images in a slideshow, writing in the description, “Here is the pibble starting roster.” Over two years, the post received over 130 likes.

Spread

In the following months, @pibble12 continued to share photos and memes of Pibbles, sourcing many of the videos and photos of baby French bulldogs from Instagram user @jmarcoz, a French bulldog breeder.

For instance, on June 2nd, 2024, Instagram user @pibble12 first gained notable engagement with a Reel^[17], sourced from @jmarcoz, showing two Pibbles playing. The added text overlay caption referenced the Freaky^[18] and Papyrus Irony^[19] memes, reading, “Pibble eating fake Gmails because Gmail is a white pibble with black spots and not freaky with papyrus font like grow up duden.” The video received over 56,200 likes in a year.

On August 12th, TikToker @jpibblemafia shared a Soft Irony^[20] video meme with a Papyrus^[21] font text caption, reading, “Gmail, you naughty pibble, come back.” Over one year, the video received roughly 252,600 likes.

Pibble memes continued to surface on TikTok and Instagram heading into 2025. For instance, on June 25th, 2025, TikToker @leakyscrotum shared a video that followed the “What Kind of X is This?^[30]” format, in which the AI voices^[31] initially say, “What kind of Pibble is this? / This is Gmail.” Over four months, the video received over 220,500 likes.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References