Outnumbered - why is Karen named, "Karen"

[SheilaBirling]

Why does the character of Karen have this name? Her brothers and Jake and Ben, so shouldn't she be called something like Grace/Georgia/Lucy etc etc?

Why not?

Maybe it’s Sue’s best friend’s name? Sue, Angela and Karen are about the same vintage. Or it’s Sue’s middle name?

Hmmm I remember commenting on this to my husband a long time ago. It is strange and doesn’t fit. I’m thinking the story is that she’s named after a relative.

It suits her though 🙂

The writers explained this a while back - they let the actor kids pick their own character names. Its heavily ad libbed too.

I love karen in this and love the name karen as a result. No idea why shes called it though

I think the child actors chose their own names.

I know what you mean, but the character of Karen is such an unusual child that it doesn’t seem as odd as it might do.

Because Karen is THE best name 😉

Other random outnumbered facts - the writer is also the voice of dr elephant in Peppa pig.

The two leads are now partners and living together.

I don't really know what you mean tbh. I know a sibling group with a Karen and a Ben, is it that Jake doesn't go with Karen for some reason?

Omg I love her even more if she picked the name Karen for herself!

Which two leads are now living together? I hope you mean the parents, not Karen and one of the brothers

I am confused about what the issue is here? Why is Karen a problem name?

Hah yeah the parents!

Maybe because they arent all of the same generation. Ben is classic, Jake relatively modern, and Karen is quite 80s.

They may as well be Tom, Kaden and Tracy.

It is odd.

Even more pedantic is my mother’s consistent irritation with the fact that Ramona has brown eyes. I always responded with the comments that a) it’s not completely impossible for 2 blue eyed parents to have a brown eyed child, just very unlikely and b) you can’t really expect a very young actor to wear coloured contacts for the duration of filming. But she never got over the annoyance.

Karen who???

Karen isn’t 80s, it’s early to mid 60s.

Thank you - there is not a problem with the name Karen, it is more that the names Ben and Jake seem more aspirational and Karen seems dated and more prosaic.

According to a fan wiki it’s short for Kathryn but I dunno whether that’s reliable. The answer to why it’s a problem is that she was born in 2001/2002 and pretty much no one was christened Karen in 2001.

Excellent series ..cant wait for the next one

Are they making another series? Not sure if it will work - it started to lose its appeal for me when the kids grew bigger than the parents!

But it was/is a brilliant programme.

I've always thought it odd too, although it makes sense if it's true that the children chose their character names.

Ha I always wondered this too. I love the explanation that she picked it herself though!

I wonder if there were any Karens born in 2000 or so at all...!

I'm a Karen (born in the 70s). It is derived from the name Katherine. I don't know any Karens who are much younger than me so it's a bold choice 😊