FrankerZ is a Twitch chat emote featuring the face of a dog named Frankie, whose owner Ernest Le was a Twitch streamer and staff member[1].

Where did Frankerz come from?

The emote came from Twitch streamer Ernest Le, who would sometimes speak in a different voice and call himself "Frankerz" mid-broadcast, prompting a Twitch staff member to add an emote using his dog's photo[1].

What does Frankerz mean?

In Twitch chat, FrankerZ signals sarcasm or playfulness and gets spammed during raids and pyramid runs; it also appears in Twitch emote shortcut directories[2].

How do you use Frankerz?

Type "FrankerZ" into any Twitch channel where the emote is enabled and it renders inline as the dog-face image[2].

Is Frankerz still popular?

FrankerZ has been a Twitch chat emote since 2012, and its biggest recorded surge came in July 2018 after Ernest Le tweeted that his dog Frankie had passed away[5].

Frankerz

2012emoticonclassic

Published August 20, 2026

FrankerZ is a Twitch chat emote showing the face of a dog named Frankie, added in early 2012 after streamer Ernest Le would refer to himself as 'Frankerz' on broadcast. The emote is used to punctuate sarcasm or spam chats during raids, and it saw a major usage surge in 2018 after Frankie's death.

twitch emotes twitch chat memes dogs sarcasm memes 2012 memes

Overview

FrankerZ is a global Twitch chat emote showing the face of a dog, used to convey sarcasm or playfulness in stream chats3. Chatters commonly spam it during raids and pyramid runs, in the same vein as patterns like the lenny face. The dog in the photo was Frankie, a pet belonging to former Twitch streamer and staff member Ernest Le1.

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitch

Creator

Twitch staff

Date

2012

The emote traces back to Ernest Le, a Twitch streamer who occasionally shifted into a different voice and referred to himself as "Frankerz" mid-broadcast1. A Twitch staff member later built the emote by uploading a photo of Le's dog Frankie, and the earliest known writeup of the icon appeared in a January 31st, 2012 blog post by gamer Ashe Soriano cataloging Twitch emoticons3.

How It Spread

Fan projects lined up through late 2012 and into 2013. A "FrankerZ" Facebook page launched on October 11th, 2012, the frankerz.com domain was registered on October 30th, and on November 28th SoundCloud user MarkSoupial posted "Marathon Anthem 2012 (Apocalypse 2012 Edit)," an electronic track built around a vocal loop chanting the emote name. The /r/FrankerZ subreddit went up on January 5th, 2013, followed by a Pastebin ASCII rendition three days later, and YTMND user devanwolf tiled the dog photo over the Marathon Anthem on January 31st3. Urban Dictionary user MHFsilver added an entry pointing to its Twitch usage on March 24th4.

The emote's biggest surge came on July 31st, 2018, when Ernest Le tweeted from @MrErnestLe that his dog Frankie had passed away earlier that morning5. The tweet drew tens of thousands of likes and retweets within days, and the official Twitch account followed with a memorial tribute of its own.

How to Use This Meme

Chatters typically type "FrankerZ" into any Twitch channel where the emote is enabled to render the dog face inline. It's most often used to punctuate a sarcastic take, mock a play, or flood chat as part of a raid or pyramid2.

Frankerz

Overview

Origin & Background

How It Spread

How to Use This Meme

Frequently Asked Questions

References (5)