In today’s day and age, coming up with baby names can be difficult. For couples who are welcoming an adorable bundle of joy into the world, many are worried about their child’s name being either too unique or too common. Many new parents think of the ways their child could be teased if their name is something that sounds “funny” by pronunciation.
Today, however, parents have new issues to worry about when it comes to baby names.
With the internet producing new memes and jokes on a regular basis, most names are not safe from scrutiny. Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of people undergo the struggle.
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Recently, the name “Karen” has been a hot topic with people all over the world but especially in North America.
Thanks to the internet and a meme that stereotypes women who are “problematic” people are calling anyone who fits that stereotype a “Karen.”
This, of course, becomes a problem for those who are actually named Karen.
If your name is Karen, I’m sure you’ve gotten sick and tired of always being associated with the meme that classifies these types of women as people who are rude, disrespectful, or downright racist.
It’s no wonder many people are avoiding the name entirely now.
Many couples who are expecting are straying away from naming their children “Karen” specifically for this reason. One soon-to-be dad even got into an argument with his wife over not wanting to name their new daughter Karen.
The future father wrote into Reddit asking advice over the situation.
“My wife and I recently found out we’re having a daughter. We hadn’t really talked about names before but we both agreed that each of us will retain veto power. When we did start discussing names, both of us wanted to name her after our late mothers,” he said.
His wife’s late mother’s name happens to be Karen. Not wanting his daughter’s name to be associated with the meme, he offered a suggestion.
“I told her the baby can take my mom’s name as her first name and her mom’s name as a middle name, or have an entirely different name, but I can’t okay ‘Karen’ as a first name in any case,” he wrote.
His wife was not happy at all with his stance on this.
“She got offended because she just wants to honor her mother and thinks I have a problem with that. I just don’t want to set our daughter up to be bullied throughout her life. I told her I’d be fine with whatever first name she picks as long as it doesn’t lead to the baby being picked on later in life, but she’s pretty insistent on Karen,” he said.
Many people agreed that this future father had a pretty good point in terms of this issue.
“I get where you are coming from. We did the same thing except we used my mom’s middle name as her first name. That way we knew it was a tribute to my mom but no one else needed to know,” one person wrote.
“Your baby will thank you for NOT naming her Karen,” another added.
One person did see where he was coming from, but said the “Karen” thing will eventually die out like most Internet trends.
“I personally feel like the ‘Karen’ thing will die off one day, and our children’s generation will likely not know anything about it. However, I can see where you would still be adamant about not wanting to name her that. There is a bit of a stigma around that name TODAY. I think you guys should take a different route in name picking and just steer clear of tribute naming,” they said.
What do you think? Is this dad right for being wary of the name Karen?
