The name Karen

[whiteslats]

Has anyone known a Karen pronounced Car-ren?

Well that explains why people are confused!

Interesting. In my Irish accent (also rhotic) they’re not.

The a in car is slightly longer. And the car part of the word carry has a shorter ‘a’ than car does. (It’s the same shorter a that’s in cat.)
The car part of carry rhymes with far and the kar in Karen. Car rhymes with bar, jar, tar for me. However, none of those vowel sounds is as long as an English non-rhotic accent saying car, bar etc.

I’ve never met a Karen who pronounces it Car-ren.

I’m a Karen. Growing up, yes, I did know people who pronounced it that way (I don’t personally), though they would have been older than me by a generation or so. People did used to mispronounce my name sometimes as a child though not anymore. Maybe because it’s gone out of fashion.

Yes. Every Karen I have met pronounces it this way

Where are you based? Karen here is more like the first syllable of carry than the sound in car.

@BarbaraHoward Car and carry are the same to me

I'm struggling to think how Karen can be pronounced other than as it's written

Or occasionally Care-en

Does the cat Vs car version make any more sense to you? Or if you imagine people with a different accent to you? It's not about the R, like I said I have a rhotic accent, but cat has a short A for me like apple and car has a long A like arbitrary.

I knew a South African who pronounced it like that.

Exactly that pronunciation, but spelt Karin (known 2 people over time with that spelling).

I've heard Australians say Parsta for pasta