Balltze was born on January 9, 2011. He was adopted when he was one year old by Kathy, a fashion designer from Kowloon, who got him from a friend who was emigrating. Kathy named him after a Japanese drink called Ramune, which has a marble inside the bottle. Balltze was affectionately known as "Ball Ball" by his owners.

In a 2020 interview with Know Your Meme, Kathy mentioned that Balltze wanted to be remembered as "Balltze" and not confused with other Shiba Inu memes like "Doge" or "Cheems." He preferred his own unique identity.