The name Karen has made it onto a popular baby names list
Don’t act so surprised. As it turns out the name Karen is a lot more popular than you may think, despite it copping relentless online mockery.
The name Karen has copped a barrage of online mockery this year, but despite what some people may think, it’s still a very popular moniker.
Of late, it has been used as a pejorative term to describe an “angry, entitled” white woman of privilege who will often want to “speak to the manager” to complain about the tiniest inconveniences.
But, for those of you who don’t know, the name Karen actually means “pure” and there are about 3,049,118 Karens out there in the world, making it the 151st most popular name globally.
While that’s not exactly something to brag about, it did manage to nab third place on the list for the world’s most popular Festive Baby Names of 2020.
RELATED: Why we should stop calling people Karen
Apart from the innocent meaning, Karen also happens to be the name of the girl who returned Frosty the Snowman to the North Pole, said OnBuy.com, the UK company which conducted the November research.
After analysts trawled through thousands of festive baby names for boys and girls, and surveyed 5675 parents and parents-to-be, the name to top the list belongs to Mary, followed by Gloria, with just over 11 million and 3 million respectively to have the name worldwide.
David, which means “beloved” topped the list for festive boys name. It ranked 13th in the world with just over 13 million babies with the name.
Michael came in second place with about 11,482,415 baby boys having this name, making it the 19th most common name in the world. It derives from the Hebrew name Micha meaning “who is like God”, and is named in the Bible as an archangel.
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In third place is Joseph, which also derives from Hebrew for “increase or addition” and is the name of Jesus’ father. While it comes 31st worldwide, it’s the most popular boys name in the US.
But not everyone is keen on giving their child a festive name, with 34 per cent claiming they’re “tacky”, 21 per cent saying they’re “too mainstream” and 11 per cent describing them as “cringey”.
“OnBuy found that almost 8 in 10 (78 per cent) would consider giving their child a festive name, with only 22 per cent wanting something non-seasonal,” the company said.
“Of those wanting a festive name, a whopping 94 per cent believe that giving their child a name with festive connotations would make people around them more cheerful.”
What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.
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