Nobody Wants to Name Their Kid ‘Karen’ Anymore

Mental Floss

There are plenty of fine Karens in the world. Karen Allen, who was winning in the role of Marion Ravenwood in 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. American astronaut Karen Nyberg. Paleontologist Karen Chin.

Unfortunately, the rate of Karens may be in decline. Owing to “Karen” being used as pejorative, fewer and fewer parents are opting to name their child after a meme.

According to HuffPost, data sourced from the Social Security Administration (SSA) depicts a sharp drop-off in new babies with the moniker. In 2020, “Karen” plummeted 171 spots on the list of the most popular baby names over the prior year, from 660 to 831. It’s the lowest rank for Karens on the SSA list since 1927.

A total of 325 Karens were ushered into the world in 2020, an astonishingly low number when you consider 33,000 Karens were issued birth certificates in 1965.

The internet has made “Karen” synonymous with irate and irascible behavior in recent years. It now joins such historically unpopular names as Dove, Lovey, and Chestina, though it hasn’t yet achieved banned baby name status in certain countries, as is the case with IKEA, Nutella, and Hermione.

The top female baby name in 2020? Olivia.

[h/t HuffPost]

Mental Floss

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