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NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – George Jetson’s name began trending this weekend on social media platforms, over excitement that the beloved cartoon character supposedly would born Sunday.

But was the patriarch of “The Jetsons” really born on July 31, 2022? It depends who you ask, and perhaps only his mechanical maid Rosie the Robot knows for sure.

The birthdate that would be Sunday has appeared for years in the George Jetson biography page of Google. The origin of the July 31 birthdate is unclear. And Wikipedia’s biography of the character has adopted a far more vague birthdate of simply “circa 2022.”

Leave it to the rumor-debunking investigators of Snopes.com to take up the case.

In the Snopes investigation of Jetson’s missing birth certificate, published in June 2021, author David Mikkelson concluded “2022 is a reasonable estimation of his birth year, although it is somewhat based on speculation.”

Mikkelson cited a Gizmodo article, which was looking into the more troubling question of whether George’s wife Jane — believed to be seven years his junior — was a child bride and should result in George being “canceled.” (Spoiler alert: Gizmodo deemed the relationship “creepy,” though not cancel-worthy, but we digress).

Gizmodo explained that in an episode titled “Test Pilot,” which originally aired on Dec. 30, 1962, George Jetson was told by a doctor that he “should live to be 150,” leading Jetson to exclaim he had “110 good years ahead of me.”

If the Spacely Sprockets employee was speaking precisely and not rounding off numbers, that meant George Jetson was 40 years old at the time of that doctor’s visit.

But what year was that doctor’s appointment? “The Jetsons” never said exactly what year the show was supposedly set in, other than vague references to the “21st century.”

However, according to MeTV, promotional materials sent out before the series premiered in 1962 said the Jetson family was living exactly 100 years in the future. (This source also confirmed that the name of the family’s mechanical maid was spelled “Rosey” in 1962′s first episode title but “Rosie” in a 1985 series reboot; again, we digress).

So, should you celebrate the birthday of George Jetson on Sunday? Entirely up to you. The heroes wiki on the website fandom.com lists Jetson at age 45, meaning his birthday actually was five years ago. Your mileage may vary.

Just don’t hold your breath that those flying cars will be on the market within the next 40 years to help you finally avoid New Orleans potholes.

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