Does anybody remember when the name ‘Karen’ took on this new connotation? Was there one specific video that went viral a few years ago that featured an actual person named Karen screaming at a manager or something? I honestly can’t recall. That could actually be a theme blog all to itself. Tracing the etymology of viral references. Put that in the tickler file.
Anyway, I don’t remember when it happened, but my heart truly does go out to all of the actual people named Karen having to deal with the new context of their name. ‘Karen’s.’ There are plenty of people named Karen who haven’t spoken to a manager in their life. They don’t care that they might have gotten overcharged for milk at Wal Mart, it doesn’t bother them that the person who arrived at the deli counter second got served first, they don’t lose any sleep over that car parked out front for the past 3 days. But somehow, their name has now come to define a middle-aged woman with a bob-haircut that complains LOUDLY about all manner of first-world problems. Must be a real bummer.
Which leads us to this story. Meet Karen Firestone (heiress to the Firestone empire)(?). Karen is from Canton, Ohio, and has had enough of her good name being dragged through the mud. She’s tired of people giggling she introduces herself, and she is sick of having to say, ‘she’s one of the good Karen’s’ after that. So she’s legally trying to change her name to Kat. Obligatory gif:
But this is what the internet has done to the name Karen. Karen Firestone has to actually go before a judge on February 21st and explain why she wants to change her name. Did you know that Karen was once the 3rd most popular name in America? Not anymore. Reddit killed an entire name. Weirdly impressive.
PS: The irony of a Karen having to go to a judge to change her name is not lost on me. In attempting to shed herself of the ‘Karen’ description, she had to actually become a Karen. Tragedy.
Double PS: Remember this commercial?
‘Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike.’ Mike’s had a tough run there for about a year or two after this commercial went viral.
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