To be bummed to be "Karen"?

[Shortstrawname]

Name changed because this could be outing. I'm in my late 20s and my name is Karen. I feel sad that my name has now become a huge meme. Amongst a sea of Katies in my year at school, I was kind of glad to have a unique name. Now, I feel mostly embarrassed due to the sea of Internet memes. There is an 'anti-Karen' group on Facebook with 127k likes! What do you all think of the name and do you immediately now associate it with the meme? I know there is nothing I can do but suck it up, but I wonder if there are any other Karens feeling the same out there? 🤔

I know a Karen and she is one of the nicest, most genuine people I’ve ever met.

Move to Australia and reinvent yourself as Kazza!

@Wendigogo
Is this wildly different from how mumsnet users use the name Tarquin as a generic name for a 'precious' child of an upper middle class family?

Exactly. Funny when the shoe is on the other foot, eh?

Besides, MN is full of Karens, what with the constant denial of racism and the rampant curtain twitching that goes on here.

There's nothing wrong with the name, Karen. I hadn't heard there was anything 'funny' about it except on here so please pay no attention. In real life I doubt anyone thinks of it.

Some years ago, 'Sharon' was the name people took the mick out of despite it being a Biblical Hebrew name; that stemmed from 'Birds of a Feather' but even people who'd never seen the TV programme were making fun of the name. Not much fun for those called 'Sharon' and extremely rude.

What does surprise me is that your name was so rare during your school days, I've known loads of Karens. 'Katie' isn't a name in itself anyway, should be Catherine or Katherine or Kathleen,shorted to Kate or Katie (which I do like).

Well here's a surprise, I looked up the meaning of 'Karen' - which is nice - and had no idea it came from Katherine:-

"Karen Origin and Meaning
The name Karen is a girl's name of Danish origin meaning "pure".

Karen is a Danish diminutive of Katherine, an English name derived from the Greek Aikaterine. The etymology of Aikaterine is contested, but generally considered to have arisen from the Greek root katharos, meaning “pure.” Kaja is a related name, as it is another Danish variation of Katherine.

Karen, a sweet good-girl Danish import, was so popular during the baby boom (Karen was Number 3 in 1960) that it's locked firmly into fashion limbo today. Recently, the name Karen has been turned into a meme, representing a hostile white woman—one who usually wants to speak with the manager.

Parents who want to honor a Karen or choose an updated version of the name might want to consider the Irish Kieran, the Cornish Kerensa or Kerenza, or variations from Karina to Kyra."

The meme is horrible. I wish it could be stopped but, honestly, I doubt is as widespread as you think.

You have a charming and feminine name, enjoy it and pay no attention to ignoramus.

Karen is a lovely name, and I associate it with some really good friends over the years, and one of my best friends from school days who I am still best friends with now.

I'd never heard of this meme before but people who are perpetuating it need to grow the fuck up. It's just pathetic, playground bullying with a nasty misogynistic and class discrimination undercurrent.

I think anyone who jumps on the Karen Meme bandwagon is a thick twat, tbh.

So pathetically unoriginal, putting down women, it just makes them look stupid, trying to be ‘in’ in using them latest crap on SM.

And I certainly don’t think about any RL people called K as being connected .

It’s misogynistic and nasty

What about the male version ‘Dave’?

I know 2 nice Karens and one total utter undermining bitch Karen.

This Karen meme thing will pass - like all other crazes.

I always think of this Dave:

And this excellent parody:

Happy to say both Karen and Dave have not crossed my radar until now.

It's a misogynistic meme. What's the male equivalent of a Karen? It's about slapping down women for being assertive.

Is this wildly different from how mumsnet users use the name Tarquin as a generic name for a 'precious' child of an upper middle class family?

Yes, because people don'T actually call their kids Tarquin.

I certainly feel better about my name after reading your opinions. I will try and rock the name Karen through my 30s . Glad you all don't immediately associate it with the meme. Also I didn't realise how many people would actually like the name! Karen from Outnumbered is awesome. My school was full of Katies, rather than Kate/Katherine. Perhaps it was our local area? It was the 90s version of the now popular Olivia/Isobel/Evie (all fabulous names!).

By the way, I'm not condoning the damning of other names on this thread and the "It could be worse, you could have been called Tracy" stuff - I actually really love the name Tracey/Tracy! My friend's mum is called Tracy and she is just the most lovely woman. 🥰

@Kokeshi123 The name Tarquin reminds me of the Sophie Kinsella "Shopaholic" books. I actually like it!

I'm 44 and the most popular names when I was growing up were Karen, Claire and Louise. Having a pop at Karens feels like a specific and personal insult to white English women in their 40s. And what's this Dave rubbish as well? David is a perfectly good classical, Biblical name, I've got cousins and family friends with the name. May as well have pop at Steves, Simons or Mikes. What is it, insult Generation X week?

I love the names Claire and Louise too!

They will probably come fantastically popular as baby names again at some point, give it another ten years perhaps.

Totally ridiculous, sexist meme....I work in retail and honestly at least half of the people demanding to speak to the manager are arsey men, so I'm not even sure where this stereotype come from

It's also Susan.

So to compensate I think a lot of older ladies can seem a bit rude but we really can be very fed up with every one trying to walking all over us!!

Nanalisa60 It is never acceptable to be rude or entitled regardless of your perceived feelings of invisibleness. That is your issue to deal with; don’t take it out on those who have nothing to do with it.

But of course You are wright some days I really don’t give a shit!! Or as I like to call it I have a day of truth telling!! This often seems to upset a lot of my friends and family!!

No, it’s not a day of truth telling. It’s a day of you being a bitch and using your age as an excuse to say whatever you want.

Do you want to speak to the manager?

I love the name Karen because I know two lovely Karen's. Both clever, successful and warm, kind women so whatever the memes say I associate Karen with all of those positive qualities and never think of my Karen's when I see them.

Never worry about what twats like on FB.

I've only known one at school and she was horrible. But that's just coincidence. Tracey got terrible press for years. Much worse than Karen.

I havent heard of this before ,googled it just now .Our lovely Niece is called Karen .A clever kind girl who is a great Mum to her 3 DC!

I think the meme works in two ways.

On one hand it's to showcase the behavior of a perceived rude, entitled predominantly middle-aged, middle class white woman (whether this mythical person is fabricated or not).

On the other hand it's become a catch all term to shout down women.