Died Born Welcome Back

2016Image macro / exploitable templatesemi-active

Also known as: Reincarnation Meme · Celebrity Reincarnation

Died Born Welcome Back is an image-macro template pairing a celebrity's death year with another's birth year to humorously suggest reincarnation, originating in 2016 with a Reddit post comparing Donald Trump to General George Patton.

Died / Born / Welcome Back is an image macro template that implies one famous person was reincarnated as another by lining up their death year with the other's birth year. The format first appeared on Reddit in 2016 comparing Donald Trump to General George S. Patton, then exploded on Instagram and Twitter in late 2023 when users started pairing increasingly absurd celebrity combinations like Richard Nixon and Ice Spice2.

doppelganger memesexploitable templatestwo panel memesconspiracy memes

Overview

The Died / Born / Welcome Back template uses a simple three-line structure. Two photos sit side by side: a historical or deceased figure on the left and a modern celebrity on the right. Between or beneath them, the format reads "[Person A] died [year] / [Person B] born [year] / Welcome back." The joke works on two levels: it highlights an uncanny physical resemblance between the two people while suggesting that the newer celebrity is literally the reincarnated soul of the older one2.

The humor comes from pairing people who look nothing alike or have wildly different reputations. The format taps into a longer internet tradition of celebrity doppelgänger comparisons, where fans dig up historical portraits and photographs of figures who bear a strange resemblance to modern stars1.

The template traces back to a real, pre-existing internet fascination with historical lookalikes. Lists comparing celebrities to their "doppelgängers from the past" had circulated for years, with figures like Donald Trump being matched to General George S. Patton based on their shared facial features1. The Trump/Patton pairing was one of the most popular of these comparisons, with both men sharing a stern expression and similar bone structure1.

On August 15, 2016, Reddit user /u/Squiggledog posted the first known version of the meme template to /r/forwardsfromgrandma. It used the Trump/Patton comparison with the "Died / Born / Welcome Back" caption format, collecting 396 upvotes over seven years2. The post framed the doppelgänger resemblance as mock evidence of reincarnation, adding a conspiratorial, tongue-in-cheek layer to what had previously been a straightforward "they look alike" observation.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit (first post), Instagram (viral spread)
Key People
/u/Squiggledog, @fakenewsnetwork
Date
2016

The template traces back to a real, pre-existing internet fascination with historical lookalikes. Lists comparing celebrities to their "doppelgängers from the past" had circulated for years, with figures like Donald Trump being matched to General George S. Patton based on their shared facial features. The Trump/Patton pairing was one of the most popular of these comparisons, with both men sharing a stern expression and similar bone structure.

On August 15, 2016, Reddit user /u/Squiggledog posted the first known version of the meme template to /r/forwardsfromgrandma. It used the Trump/Patton comparison with the "Died / Born / Welcome Back" caption format, collecting 396 upvotes over seven years. The post framed the doppelgänger resemblance as mock evidence of reincarnation, adding a conspiratorial, tongue-in-cheek layer to what had previously been a straightforward "they look alike" observation.

How It Spread

Through the late 2010s and into the 2020s, the original Trump/Patton infographic got periodic reposts on Reddit and Twitter without gaining massive traction.

Everything changed on November 9, 2023, when Instagram user @fakenewsnetwork posted a re-edited version of the template. This iteration swapped out Trump and Patton for former U.S. President Richard Nixon and rapper Ice Spice. The pairing was intentionally absurd: Nixon, the disgraced Watergate president, and Ice Spice, a Gen Z rap star, share almost nothing in common visually or culturally. The post picked up over 71,300 likes within a month.

The Nixon/Ice Spice version sparked a wave of imitations. On November 28, 2023, Redditor MegaWAH posted an iteration about director Stanley Kubrick to /r/moviescirclejerk, earning over 3,100 upvotes in three weeks.

By December 2023, the template was running hot across Instagram and Twitter. On December 8, @fakenewsnetwork followed up with a version comparing John Lennon and Pitbull, which blew up even bigger with over 167,000 likes in 11 days. The next day, December 9, Instagram user @edgar.allan.cointelpro shared a version pairing Princess Diana with George Santos, pulling in over 4,200 likes in 10 days.

The appeal was clear: the more ridiculous and tonally mismatched the pairing, the funnier the meme. Mixing beloved cultural icons with polarizing modern figures became the sweet spot.

How to Use This Meme

The format is straightforward:

1

Pick a deceased or historical figure and find a clear photo of them.

2

Pick a living celebrity or public figure, ideally someone with a very different reputation, look, or cultural vibe.

3

Check that the death year of the first person roughly aligns with the birth year of the second (a year or two of overlap is fine; exact matches aren't required).

4

Place both photos side by side.

5

Add the text: "[Person A] died [year] / [Person B] born [year] / Welcome back."

Cultural Impact

The template builds on a long history of "celebrity lookalike" content online. For years, viral listicles compiled side-by-side comparisons of modern celebrities and their supposed historical doppelgängers. Figures like Chuck Norris paired with Vincent Van Gogh, Andrew Garfield with Leon Trotsky, and Alec Baldwin with President Millard Fillmore all made the rounds in these compilations. The Died / Born / Welcome Back meme took this concept and weaponized it for comedy, stripping away the genuine "wow, they look alike" reaction and replacing it with ironic absurdity.

The format also plugged into a late-2023 trend of history-meets-pop-culture humor on Instagram meme pages, where accounts like @fakenewsnetwork built large followings by remixing political and historical imagery into shitpost-friendly formats.

Fun Facts

The original Trump/Patton comparison existed as a straight doppelgänger observation for years before anyone turned it into a reincarnation meme.

The lolwot.com listicle that helped popularize Trump/Patton comparisons also matched Ellen DeGeneres with Henry David Thoreau and Shia LaBeouf with Albert Einstein.

@fakenewsnetwork's John Lennon/Pitbull version outperformed the Nixon/Ice Spice original by over 95,000 likes.

The format doesn't require the death and birth years to match exactly. Many popular versions have gaps of several years, which is part of the joke.

Derivatives & Variations

Nixon / Ice Spice

— The breakout iteration that made the template go viral. Posted November 9, 2023, on Instagram by @fakenewsnetwork[2].

Stanley Kubrick iteration

— A /r/moviescirclejerk take posted November 28, 2023, applying the format to the film director[2].

John Lennon / Pitbull

— @fakenewsnetwork's follow-up, posted December 8, 2023, which outperformed the original with 167,000+ likes[2].

Princess Diana / George Santos

— Posted December 9, 2023, by @edgar.allan.cointelpro, combining royal tragedy with congressional scandal[2].

Frequently Asked Questions

Died Born Welcome Back

2016Image macro / exploitable templatesemi-active

Also known as: Reincarnation Meme · Celebrity Reincarnation

Died Born Welcome Back is an image-macro template pairing a celebrity's death year with another's birth year to humorously suggest reincarnation, originating in 2016 with a Reddit post comparing Donald Trump to General George Patton.

Died / Born / Welcome Back is an image macro template that implies one famous person was reincarnated as another by lining up their death year with the other's birth year. The format first appeared on Reddit in 2016 comparing Donald Trump to General George S. Patton, then exploded on Instagram and Twitter in late 2023 when users started pairing increasingly absurd celebrity combinations like Richard Nixon and Ice Spice.

doppelganger memes exploitable templates two panel memes conspiracy memes

Overview

The Died / Born / Welcome Back template uses a simple three-line structure. Two photos sit side by side: a historical or deceased figure on the left and a modern celebrity on the right. Between or beneath them, the format reads "[Person A] died [year] / [Person B] born [year] / Welcome back." The joke works on two levels: it highlights an uncanny physical resemblance between the two people while suggesting that the newer celebrity is literally the reincarnated soul of the older one.

The humor comes from pairing people who look nothing alike or have wildly different reputations. The format taps into a longer internet tradition of celebrity doppelgänger comparisons, where fans dig up historical portraits and photographs of figures who bear a strange resemblance to modern stars.

The template traces back to a real, pre-existing internet fascination with historical lookalikes. Lists comparing celebrities to their "doppelgängers from the past" had circulated for years, with figures like Donald Trump being matched to General George S. Patton based on their shared facial features. The Trump/Patton pairing was one of the most popular of these comparisons, with both men sharing a stern expression and similar bone structure.

On August 15, 2016, Reddit user /u/Squiggledog posted the first known version of the meme template to /r/forwardsfromgrandma. It used the Trump/Patton comparison with the "Died / Born / Welcome Back" caption format, collecting 396 upvotes over seven years. The post framed the doppelgänger resemblance as mock evidence of reincarnation, adding a conspiratorial, tongue-in-cheek layer to what had previously been a straightforward "they look alike" observation.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit (first post), Instagram (viral spread)
Key People
/u/Squiggledog, @fakenewsnetwork
Date
2016

The template traces back to a real, pre-existing internet fascination with historical lookalikes. Lists comparing celebrities to their "doppelgängers from the past" had circulated for years, with figures like Donald Trump being matched to General George S. Patton based on their shared facial features. The Trump/Patton pairing was one of the most popular of these comparisons, with both men sharing a stern expression and similar bone structure.

On August 15, 2016, Reddit user /u/Squiggledog posted the first known version of the meme template to /r/forwardsfromgrandma. It used the Trump/Patton comparison with the "Died / Born / Welcome Back" caption format, collecting 396 upvotes over seven years. The post framed the doppelgänger resemblance as mock evidence of reincarnation, adding a conspiratorial, tongue-in-cheek layer to what had previously been a straightforward "they look alike" observation.

How It Spread

Through the late 2010s and into the 2020s, the original Trump/Patton infographic got periodic reposts on Reddit and Twitter without gaining massive traction.

Everything changed on November 9, 2023, when Instagram user @fakenewsnetwork posted a re-edited version of the template. This iteration swapped out Trump and Patton for former U.S. President Richard Nixon and rapper Ice Spice. The pairing was intentionally absurd: Nixon, the disgraced Watergate president, and Ice Spice, a Gen Z rap star, share almost nothing in common visually or culturally. The post picked up over 71,300 likes within a month.

The Nixon/Ice Spice version sparked a wave of imitations. On November 28, 2023, Redditor MegaWAH posted an iteration about director Stanley Kubrick to /r/moviescirclejerk, earning over 3,100 upvotes in three weeks.

By December 2023, the template was running hot across Instagram and Twitter. On December 8, @fakenewsnetwork followed up with a version comparing John Lennon and Pitbull, which blew up even bigger with over 167,000 likes in 11 days. The next day, December 9, Instagram user @edgar.allan.cointelpro shared a version pairing Princess Diana with George Santos, pulling in over 4,200 likes in 10 days.

The appeal was clear: the more ridiculous and tonally mismatched the pairing, the funnier the meme. Mixing beloved cultural icons with polarizing modern figures became the sweet spot.

How to Use This Meme

The format is straightforward:

1

Pick a deceased or historical figure and find a clear photo of them.

2

Pick a living celebrity or public figure, ideally someone with a very different reputation, look, or cultural vibe.

3

Check that the death year of the first person roughly aligns with the birth year of the second (a year or two of overlap is fine; exact matches aren't required).

4

Place both photos side by side.

5

Add the text: "[Person A] died [year] / [Person B] born [year] / Welcome back."

Cultural Impact

The template builds on a long history of "celebrity lookalike" content online. For years, viral listicles compiled side-by-side comparisons of modern celebrities and their supposed historical doppelgängers. Figures like Chuck Norris paired with Vincent Van Gogh, Andrew Garfield with Leon Trotsky, and Alec Baldwin with President Millard Fillmore all made the rounds in these compilations. The Died / Born / Welcome Back meme took this concept and weaponized it for comedy, stripping away the genuine "wow, they look alike" reaction and replacing it with ironic absurdity.

The format also plugged into a late-2023 trend of history-meets-pop-culture humor on Instagram meme pages, where accounts like @fakenewsnetwork built large followings by remixing political and historical imagery into shitpost-friendly formats.

Fun Facts

The original Trump/Patton comparison existed as a straight doppelgänger observation for years before anyone turned it into a reincarnation meme.

The lolwot.com listicle that helped popularize Trump/Patton comparisons also matched Ellen DeGeneres with Henry David Thoreau and Shia LaBeouf with Albert Einstein.

@fakenewsnetwork's John Lennon/Pitbull version outperformed the Nixon/Ice Spice original by over 95,000 likes.

The format doesn't require the death and birth years to match exactly. Many popular versions have gaps of several years, which is part of the joke.

Derivatives & Variations

Nixon / Ice Spice

— The breakout iteration that made the template go viral. Posted November 9, 2023, on Instagram by @fakenewsnetwork[2].

Stanley Kubrick iteration

— A /r/moviescirclejerk take posted November 28, 2023, applying the format to the film director[2].

John Lennon / Pitbull

— @fakenewsnetwork's follow-up, posted December 8, 2023, which outperformed the original with 167,000+ likes[2].

Princess Diana / George Santos

— Posted December 9, 2023, by @edgar.allan.cointelpro, combining royal tragedy with congressional scandal[2].

Frequently Asked Questions