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Here's why Greta Thunberg changed her Twitter name to Sharon

The teen climate change activist has a habit of adjusting her Twitter bio to reflect world events.

Headshot of Gael Cooper
Headshot of Gael Cooper
Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, and generational studies Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
2 min read
gretathunberg
Greta Thunberg/Twitter

Look, game show contestants can't possibly get all the answers right. But British actor Amanda Henderson made a big mistake on the BBC quiz show Celebrity Mastermind on Thursday. Asked to identify the Swedish climate change activist whose book is called No One is Too Small To Make A Difference," Henderson shook her head and guessed, "Sharon?"

The correct answer, of course, was Greta Thunberg, who turned 17 on Friday. A clip of Henderson's wrong answer was shared by Twitter user Mark Smith, and has more than 6 million views in just a day. "2020 is cancelled," Smith wrote.

Thunberg played along, changing her Twitter name to "Sharon," plus adjusting her age to reflect her birthday, and thanking those who sent birthday wishes.

"Large fan of this," wrote Smith, the Twitter user who sent the video viral, of Thunberg's name change.

Twitter users commented on the name change, and Henderson's gaffe.

"Our climate change global superstar will always be Sharon Thunberg to me from now on," wrote one. Another wrote of Henderson's confused face, "This is a visual representation of when you don't know the answer but refuse to leave it blank."

It's far from the first time Thunberg has reflected news events in her Twitter biography. When Time named the teen its Person of the Year in December, President Donald Trump tweeted that she should "work on her anger management problem, then go to a good old-fashioned movie with a friend," and said she should "chill." 

In response, Thunberg changed her Twitter biography to read, "A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old-fashioned movie with a friend."

Thunberg has also tweaked her Twitter bio to play off another Trump remark in September, one by Russian president Vladimir Putin in October, and a December remark by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.