My name actually is Karen, and I'm white and middle-aged. I have hated my name since I was a very little girl so for that reason alone I'd say don't name your kid that. In ten years the stigma of being "a Karen" will be over and mostly forgotten. But I wouldn't name a kid any name that doesn't lend itself to a nickname. Both my parents had names that could be shortened and both went by the shortened version but then somehow my mother (who was in charge of naming us) picked names that don't shorten at all for my brother and me.

NO Karens, Chads or Brads.

OP these posters are so myopic.

It’s a lovely name. In 3 years the current negative associations will be long forgotten.

Caryn as a middle name is as close as I’d get.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Middle name will be fine.

Or similar name like Corinne or something. So unfair this has happened to all the nice women named Karen!

The irony is that I can't think of a single Karen who wasn't a lovely person.

OP, I wanted to name my daughter Katrina, but didn't because of the hurricane a few years earlier. I wish I did though because I don't think it would have mattered much today.

Same.

Middle name is fine.

I gave my kids conventional first names and unusual middle names so they could be quirksters if they wanted.

Society just uses the middle initial in most cases and situations where the middle info is publicized.

My kids are teens. Nobody ever asks about their middle names - not even why they are so quirky.

The kids don't care about their middle names at all.

I have "Ann" which was one of the default middle names of early Gen-X. Nobody had any interest in it either.

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it, OP

+1

Middle name is fine.

For the first name can be similar but not Karen. Carina, Katrina, Corine, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Middle name will be fine.

Or similar name like Corinne or something. So unfair this has happened to all the nice women named Karen!

The irony is that I can't think of a single Karen who wasn't a lovely person.

OP, I wanted to name my daughter Katrina, but didn't because of the hurricane a few years earlier. I wish I did though because I don't think it would have mattered much today.

Middle name will be fine.

Or similar name like Corinne or something. So unfair this has happened to all the nice women named Karen!

Thank you for replying. Needed non family member opinions.

No. Don't do it to your daughter. One of my friend's son was named Osama, which is a very common name in Middle-east. After 9/11, everyone saw it as a testament of support to Bin Laden so they thought of changing it but then decided that why let a terrorist hijack their kid's name. Life got hard for the kid and he got mocked and bullied on daily basis, in the end they had to change it. Karen is pretty much a synonym for an entitled terrorizing lady. Your girl will get mocked and bullied for no fault of her own.

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it, OP

OP- in my gut know even 10 years probably still makes easy target- like naming kids names that rhyme with curse words, so maybe better question: are middle names read out in school? Instead of first name, honor by putting into middle names…. Or just as bad?

Don’t do it, OP

I wish using the name “Karen” to disparage had never happened. Know most parents now avoiding (has dropped in name ranking lists), but how bad do you think would be for little in 10 years? Think stigma run its course by then? If name want to use to honor family member, think kids still mercilessly teased in end of ES, when kids seem most harsh?