--- description: Google dropped a new Doodle on Tuesday in honor of the site's 18th birthday, but the company isn't sure when its birthday actually is title: New Doodle Celebrates Google Turning 18 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c7bd0bd449f76ce/6988a7a2428a9e0a05cd4663/googles-18th-birthday-5661535679545344-hp2x.gif?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # New Doodle Celebrates Google Turning 18 All Over Again by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 27, 2016 9:40 AM CUT  Google by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 27, 2016 9:40 AM CUT Google dropped a new Doodle on Tuesday in honor of the company’s [18th birthday](https://www.google.com/doodles/googles-18th-birthday "undefined"), which it says is on Sept. 27\. The animated doodle, designed by Gerben Steenks, depicts a big “G” blowing up a balloon that spells out the rest of the name “Google” before floating away past party decor. But as several media outlets have pointed out, there is some confusion over the exact date and even year of Google’s birthday. According to the [Independent](http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/when-is-googles-birthday-18th-doodle-today-a7331271.html "undefined") there are several dates in September that could be candidates for the anniversary, including when Google filed for incorporation on Sept. 4, 1998, created a workspace or hired its first employee. The company reportedly said in 2013 that it didn’t actually know when its real birthday was, with so many landmark dates in its history. And since 2002, the company has publicly marked the occasion on several different days in September. For now, it seems to have settled on Sept. 27 — as good a date as any! ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4509211/google-doodle-birthday-18/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4509211/google-doodle-birthday-18/"},"headline":"New Doodle Celebrates Google Turning 18 All Over Again","datePublished":"2016-09-27T09:40:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:02.185Z","description":"Didn't Google already have a birthday?","url":"https://time.com/4509211/google-doodle-birthday-18/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Technology","Google Doodle"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c7bd0bd449f76ce/6988a7a2428a9e0a05cd4663/googles-18th-birthday-5661535679545344-hp2x.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c7bd0bd449f76ce/6988a7a2428a9e0a05cd4663/googles-18th-birthday-5661535679545344-hp2x.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"googles-18th-birthday-5661535679545344-hp2x","caption":"","creditText":"Google","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4509211/google-doodle-birthday-18/","name":"New Doodle Celebrates Google Turning 18 All Over Again"}}]}] ```