Daquan is a fictional Black boyfriend character used in Twitter jokes that pair stock photos of white kids arguing with their parents with captions naming Daquan as the reason for the fight.

Where did Daquan come from?

The joke started with a July 2nd, 2014 tweet by Twitter user @RealRaymondJ captioned 'Mom I don't want a David, I want a Daquan,' which racked up over 14,500 retweets in its first week.

What does Daquan mean?

Daquan is a stand-in name for the stereotype of an inner-city Black boyfriend; Urban Dictionary logged it as the 'top ratchet boy name of 2014,' alongside 'Shaniqua' for girls.

How do you use Daquan?

Pair a stock photo of a white kid arguing with a parent with a caption from the kid's point of view that names Daquan as the boyfriend, pregnancy source, or reason they are running away.

Is Daquan still popular?

Daquan peaked in July 2014, when the keyword was tweeted over 100,000 times in 24 hours, and got a second bump that September through Imgur user AnthonyCapo's 'Danquan Saga' about his sister's real-life boyfriend.

Daquan

2014image macroclassic

Published August 17, 2026

Daquan is a Twitter joke that took over Black Twitter in July 2014, pairing stock photos of white kids fighting their parents with captions about a fictional Black boyfriend named Daquan. The character became shorthand for suburban-parent panic gags, and the format spun off parody accounts, an Imgur saga, and a slot in Urban Dictionary as 'top ratchet boy name of 2014.'

black twitter memes stock photo exploitables name based memes moral panic memes stereotype memes

Overview

Daquan is a fictional character used in captioned photo jokes that spread across Black Twitter in the summer of 20141. The format pairs a stock photograph of a white teen or child arguing with a parent, then drops in a caption where the kid announces they are dating, pregnant by, or running off with someone named Daquan1. Daquan is drawn as an inner-city Black boyfriend who horrifies suburban families, and the joke plays on stereotypes about interracial teen dating flipped into absurdist punchlines1.

The name itself crossed over into slang almost immediately. Urban Dictionary listed Daquan that year as the 'top ratchet boy name of 2014,' pairing it with 'Shaniqua' as the female equivalent3.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter (viral spread on Black Twitter and Imgur)

Creator

@RealRaymondJ

Date

2014

On July 2nd, 2014, Twitter user @RealRaymondJ posted a stock photograph of a young girl making a dismissive hand gesture at her mother, captioned 'Mom I don't want a David, I want a Daquan.' The tweet pulled in more than 14,500 retweets and 11,000 favorites in its first week, and other Black Twitter users started remixing the format with their own stock-photo pairings and increasingly extreme captions2.

How It Spread

By July 7th, 2014, a dedicated parody account named @YahBoyDaquan launched and pulled in over 45,000 followers in its first 24 hours, while a Redditor asked /r/OutOfTheLoop for an explanation of the joke as it spilled beyond Twitter2. Hip Hop Wired covered the trend the same day, describing timelines full of 'distraught white mothers, fathers, and husbands' appalled at the thought of their loved ones tangled up with the fictional Daquan1.

By July 8th, the keyword 'Daquan' had been tweeted more than 100,000 times in 24 hours. The name got a second wave on September 17th, 2014, when Imgur user AnthonyCapo posted about his 16-year-old sister announcing she was moving out with a boyfriend he called Daquan; the gallery hit 24,400 points and 2,600 comments inside 48 hours2. Imgur users then chronicled reaction images in a collection titled 'The Danquan Saga' that later reposted to /r/funny, IGN Forums, and FunnyJunk.

How to Use This Meme

The Daquan format typically starts with a stock photograph of a white teenager or young child mid-argument with a parent. The caption is written from the kid's point of view and drops the name Daquan as the source of the parents' distress, often escalating from dating to pregnancy to running away1. Common variants swap in fresh threats but keep the fixed punchline of naming Daquan as the boyfriend.