Despite the bad rap, research shows true blue ‘Karens’ are popular in Australia
Bunnings Karen might have done everything possible to drag the name through the mud, but a demographer says it has been mainstream in Australia for years.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- What you get as a Daily Telegraph subscriber
- Don’t be like Karen, the most selfish woman in Australia
It’s now synonymous with obnoxious privilege but, according to social demographer Mark McCrindle, “Karen” is one of the most egalitarian and mainstream names Australia has ever known.
More than 35,000 Karens were born from the 1950s to the late 80s at the name’s height of popularity and, according to Mr McCrindle’s research, “Karens” are a “mainstay of Australian communities”.
“They have raised more children, earned (and been taxed) more, and volunteered more hours in their lives than their younger Millennial counterparts, the Jessicas, Sarahs and Emilys – the dominant names of the 1980s and 1990s,” he says.
“Far from being privileged or representing exception, there has not been a more egalitarian name of recent history, and one which has endeared itself to generations of Australian parents.”
Karen was one of the nation’s most popular names for girls for 37 straight years from 1950 to 1986, he says.
Most Karens are from Generation X, born after 1964.
Recently, the name has been used as a sledge against “pushy white mums”, the Urban Dictionary describing them as an “insufferable middle-aged white woman”.
Karen Taylor, from Padstow Heights said she always liked her name until internet trolls turned it into a laughing stock.
“Everyone feels sorry for me when they hear my name at the moment … I hope it will blow over soon and people will be smart enough not to make assumptions about me based on this.”
Originally published as Despite the bad rap, research shows true blue ‘Karens’ are popular in Australia