Alternative names to Karen

[StarsieZ]

My mum recently passed away, I had never thought of using her name to name any future daughters but the question came up the other day from a friend and it's made me question it. Alas, my mums name was 'Karen' and I am not going to name my child that even as a middle name.

Does anyone have any ideas as to names that are similar/nickname etc that I might use? My mum didn't have a middle name either so that's out too, I did think of 'Wren' but that's as far as I've got.

Thanks for any advice/ideas 😊

She didn't have one sadly xx

That's a nice idea, she was a June birthday so would be Pearl

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to suggest names, I appreciate each and every one x

Thank you for taking the time to write this, I will have a look x

Yes thank you, I didn't realise how weird I would feel about the whole thing, I know it's very soon after and we've had a lot going on this year. Hopefully this will be a happy time for us all xx

She loved roses and lilies, maybe an idea x

So sorry for your loss. My mum passed away when I was 6 months pregnant, she also had cancer. She made me promise I wouldn’t use her name for the baby, it was a jokey conversation we had I also knew she meant it. I thought about honouring her somehow without using her name. Perhaps using her initial but having a different name. Perhaps using her nickname which was used by family as a middle name. In the end I decided not to as none of the names which fitted in the with them ideas I had really worked or were what I called her. I did only steer towards names which were ones I knew she liked. We didn’t find out what we were having and it’s one of my life regrets, I wish I’d have found out and told her and we’d chosen a name before she passed. Either way, don’t feel pressured. You’ll honour your mum in the best way for you.

Thank you, I don't really know what to do, I will definitely be thinking about it, I kinda feel like it's going to be expected of me now, I might not even have a girl, I might have another boy. But if I do have a girl, I have had a first name in mind for a very long time xx

Thank you for your message. I'm really sorry about your Mum too, it's so hard isn't it. I just don't know what to do and it's only been a couple of months; I wasn't expecting to fall pregnant so quickly (1st month trying and I'm 38) xx

Kara
Renn

Kara

Sorry for your loss, 💐 it's tough.
How lovely to honour and commemorate your Mum, and how awful that her nice name has been used as an insult to women.
I agree that Karena or Karina would be nice.
I'm going to disagree with Wren - I think it's a very unattractive name, a silent W is a pain and it's a kitchen fitter.
Anyway, best of luck.

The Germanic version of Karen is Karin. One letter difference only :)

Karen is such a lovely name! I know several who are lovely women (and one teenage), it's so ridiculous how people have picked on the name in that way, I think the phase will pass. Honestly, I'd use the name.

I always think of the little girl in outnumbered when I hear Karen.

Keren is lovely I think. I know one about 17 yo

I like Karina Pearl.
Also really like Katherine/Kathryn/Katharina.

I think Karina is lovely too.

Clara

I forgot to say so sorry about your mum. It must be so hard for you.

So you say you have a first name picked out? I must have misunderstood, I thought before that you meant Wren for the first name, but did you mean Wren for the middle name /Karen substitute name? Because I don't think it works as a stand in for Karen, it's too different, and starts with a different sound and letter.

To be honest I'm not that fond of Wren as a name, and I think it's perhaps a short term fad.

There's an old tradition, particularly in Scotland, of using maiden names of the maternal line as middle names for daughters. They're very rarely names that would normally be considered as given names. It remembers the lineage.

DD1 Name Mothers-Maiden Surname
DD2 Name Grandmothers-Maiden Surname

To use topical examples:
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Windsor
Margaret Cavendish-Bentinck Windsor

(tbh, it works better without double-barrelled maiden names)

I am very sorry for your loss

How about Karina? Carina is the more usual spelling but I know one who spells it with a K

Otherwise Karen is the Danish form of Katherine so I would go for that in some form - Catrin, Caitlin, Katrina, Catriona etc

Carey could also work

The name karen means pure so maybe you can use that in some way? Sorry abouy your mum x

Just saw you said about wren I think that's lovely!

Carrie?