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?

Can't find anything about another series.

Karen is nice, and due a revival (I also like the Welsh and Irish versions) but I've often thought that it was an odd choice of name for a character born in the early naughties. I didn't realise that Ramona chose it!

Claire Skinner and Hugh Dennis have been dating for about a year.

I don't think the name suits her. I know a Karen who is exactly how a Karen should be. She's 50, wears huge thick glasses and moans about everything.

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

Likely someone was. You would probably say no-one calls a kid Brian or Gary anymore, but I know one of each in the under 5 category.

Karen is the best. So funny.

My mom's name was Karen, and she was born in 1947. But I think it's had about the same level of popularity through the years. Never really popular, but never really unpopular, either.

I know a lot of Karen's my age and younger, and I was born in the 90s. I thought it was a pretty common name!

My best friend at school was called Karen. She was lovely

I don't care what her name is. I swear from episode one that someone had spied in my home and based the entire series around us. Karen is cool and also my daughter's character 😂

According to the Office for National Statistics, 37 babies were named Karen in 2002 (in England and Wales). It was the 702nd most popular name. There are about 5000 names on the list, so that's not too bad.

My daughter was born in 2002 and the character of Karen was a bit too true to life when she was 5!

I thought I read somewhere that Sue and Angela had a sister who had died and Karen was named after her. It would fit the era. Never mentioned in the series though.

NameChanger22

Didn't realise I was "supposed" to be like that. I'm obviously failing as a Karen.

Karen cant have been born in 2000 - that makes her 18 - I think of her always as being about 8!

KM99 - have you ever thought of a name change? Maybe you're more of an Emma.

NameChanger22

Ha! I always fancied myself as a Natasha when I was little. I'm definitely NOT a Natasha. 😁

I've never heard of this show so I googled it and turns out the name of the child who played Jake is Lindzi James Tyger Drew-Honey... Wow!

If we're going to read into names on the show, maybe we should hypothesize on why Lindzi James Tyger Drew-Honey chose to be called "Jake", lol.

I always thought this

DD2 has a friend called Karen who was born in 2001.

The actress picked it herself.

I suspect all three children were asked to pick their own names. I think that’s really cool

I love this programme and we often watch the repeats. So comforting.
Except for the the Le Creuset episode.

I love the name Karen - it's def due a revival. If ds (now 21) had been a girl, I would have called her Karen.

Diego - have you googled what his dad does?

Diego - have you googled what his dad does?

I have now! Ben Dover – a classic!

“The writers explained this a while back - they let the actor kids pick their own character names.”

This would make so much sense. She’d have been a similar age to the age at which DD wrote a story featuring children named Rosie, Tom and ... Barry.

I heard the story about Sue’s sister too. She and Angela had a sister called Karen, who died, so they named Karen after her.