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Original poster

Why is this name hated so much?

53 replies

mummytobemaybe · 18/06/2017 01:48

Darren seems to be a MN hatred and I was wondering why? I wasn't around in the 70s so that might be why

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ScarletSienna · 18/06/2017 01:52

I've not noticed it mentioned before! Maybe it's not a classic but also not old enough to come back into fashion. Give it 20 years!

Scrumpernickel · 18/06/2017 01:56

Probably because it's too recent a name to be vintage and too modern a name to be a future classic. I'm not sure where the name comes from but it makes me think of spotty teenage boys from the 80s and 90s who are now probably managers at Carphone Warehouse. I'm sure there are lots of lovely Darrens but the name is........meh. Similar vibe to Dean and Gary.

SomeOtherFuckers · 18/06/2017 01:59

Darren reminds me of the scary older brother people would always threaten to get on other kids ... or the drug addicts who try to do heroin in my locals toilets ... and I was born in 1995

SomeOtherFuckers · 18/06/2017 02:00

Although t is sometimes used in the occasional YA novel and I didn't mind when it was used there ... maybe it suits the genre ?

Hamsolo · 18/06/2017 02:04

I reckon when my kids have kids it might have a resurgence. It has quite a nice sound, just bad connotations.

ToeInTheWaterSlowly · 18/06/2017 02:13

It's a chavvy name - redolent of Tracey/Sharon and Eastenders.

Apart from that it's ugly sounding "Dah-raaaaaaaaaaaaah-aaaan whatchadoin???????????"

HappyAxolotl · 18/06/2017 02:23

It always makes me think "thug" and I have no idea why because I went to school with two Darrens and they were both lovely. I don't think I've met any others. Strange how it seems to have such bad connotations when there are so few of them around. Or maybe it was very popular in some parts of the country at some point?

Ditto Sharon and Tracey - I've only met one or two of each and they were all too old to have been 80s wild-children as per the stereotype.

echt · 18/06/2017 02:34

This has made me smile to remember the first Darren I ever taught, about 1980/1. No matter what essay title I set, he always wrote in the style of Raymond Chandler's Sam Spade.

Now I think of it, it was only little while later that a friend, mid-20s, said she'd slept with someone called Darren, and we were are all amazed that Darrens were old enough for all that.:o

ScarletSienna · 18/06/2017 02:35

Why don't you like Darren, OP?

Reow · 18/06/2017 02:42

I think it's ok. I don't think I've ever noticed any slagging off? Mind you the only 2 Darren's I know are posh

dotdotdotmustdash · 18/06/2017 03:04

My Dh is a Darren from 1971. He's alright I guess, we've managed 24years together.

finnmcool · 18/06/2017 03:19

I was born in 1975.
Darren had bad hair, a bad attitude and drove a crappy car in a shit way.
His jokes were shit too.

PyongyangKipperbang · 18/06/2017 03:31

My mother (who is a bit of a snob) would say that its common. My sister and I have names that are considered quaite naice now, so were v v posh back in the early 70's when we were born.

Its one of those funny names that I dont think will ever be seen as traditional. There are many older names that are not really used now despite the resurgence of Arthurs and Matildas. Ethel, Trevor, Joan, Derek,....these are all names in my family that I cant see making much of a come back.

Scrumpernickel · 18/06/2017 03:51

The husband in Bewitched was called Darren. Maybe that's how it became popular.

KoalaDownUnder · 18/06/2017 04:44

Darren was mates with Sharon, Karen and Bruce.

He drove a bogan car in 1987 and had bad skin and a belt with a big bunch of jangly keys on it. For his job as a manager at KFC.

He's still there.

TheDowagerCuntess · 18/06/2017 05:51

Gosh, I was going to say that Darren came out of nowhere in the 1960s, and then took off. Yes, it probably was inspired by Bewitched.

I recently worked with a Darryn. He's exactly as you'd imagine - i.e. slightly zanier than your average Darren.

TheDowagerCuntess · 18/06/2017 05:52

His brother is Brendyn. Both 50-ish...

Crispsheets · 18/06/2017 06:24

Daz Shock
It's a name like Wayne.

Shadow666 · 18/06/2017 06:29

I worked with a Darren aka Daz, he was on Jeremy Kyle once. True story!

TheDowagerCuntess · 18/06/2017 06:33

Darryn is Daz on Facebook. Grin

He wears a ring on every single finger (not thumbs, I don't think).

Ecureuil · 18/06/2017 06:36

I know a family with a Darren, Wayne and Sharon (siblings). All born in the 70's

RaeSkywalker · 18/06/2017 06:45

I just think it's very 'of it's time'. Came out of nowhere, had a spike in popularity, now isn't used at all.

To me, Darren is a teenager who uses an excessive amount of hair gel and Lynx!

trinity0097 · 18/06/2017 06:56

I've never taught a Darren in anything other than lower sets as a teacher.

grasspigeons · 18/06/2017 06:57

Poor old Darren. He seems to have got stuck as a teenager in MN minds.
I know a Darrell but no Darrens.