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Karen (name)

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For other uses, see Karen.

Karen is a given name. In English, it is a feminine name derived from the name Catherine. In Armenia, however, it is a masculine name deriving from Middle Iranian. The name is also found in modern Africa, as well as in East Asia.

English

Karen entered the English language from Danish, where it has been a short form of "Katherine" since medieval times.[1] It became popular in the English-speaking world in the 1940s. The name Karen was one of the top 10 names for girls born in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s, peaking as the third most popular girl's name in 1965.[2]

Variants include Caja, Kaja (Danish), Caren, Caryn, Karena, Kaat, Karin, Karyn. The name is used in the Danish, Arabic, Dutch, Hebrew, Norwegian, German and English languages.[3]

Since the late 2010s, the name "Karen" had been used in a similar vein as "Becky", to refer to an entitled, reactionary busybody middle-aged woman making complaints about trivial activities, often in reference to an aggressive woman who frequently demands customer service for small, trivial reasons.[4][5][6][7]

In Armenia

In Armenia Karen (Armenian: Կարեն, IPA: [kɑˈɾɛn]) is a common masculine given name.

The masculine given name Karen derived from the Parthian name of House of Karen (or Caren), one of the seven aristocratic families of ancient Iran. Several Iranian princes named Karen are known before and after the Islamic period. The Karen house ruled the Tabaristan region of Iran, which approximately corresponds to the current provinces of Gilan state and Mazandaran.

The masculine given name Garen is a Western Armenian form of the Eastern Armenian Karen.

The masculine given name Karen was mentioned by the prominent Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi (ca. 410–490s AD; Armenian: Մովսես Խորենացի) in his book History of Armenia.[8]

Karen can also be a surname.

In East Asia

In East Asia, Karen is a feminine given name. The name can be found in Japan, and less commonly in such places as China[citation needed], Malaysia and Philippines

Notable people

First name

Surname

Armenian men

Surname

  • Zarmihr Karen (died 558), Iranian nobleman and Sasanian governor of Zabulistan

East Asian people

Fictional people

Live action

Animation

See also

References

  1. ^ Fijok, Ivana (2012). "Onomastics as evidence of linguistic influence". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Davidson, Andrew (2007), Population Statistics for Karen, Raleigh, NC: nameplayground.com
  3. ^ Вehind the Name
  4. ^ Amelia Tait (2018-01-24). "Karen, Sharon, Becky, and Chad: How it feels when your name becomes a meme". New Statesman.
  5. ^ Lana Andelane (2019-05-30). "'Karen': How one meme ruined a mother's favourite baby name". Newshub.
  6. ^ Thomas Dane (2019-08-23). "People Who Know Chads And Karens Admit How They Feel About Their Names Becoming Insults". GeorgeTakei.com.
  7. ^ Tiffany, Kaitlyn (2020-05-06). "How 'Karen' Became a Coronavirus Villain". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  8. ^ History of the Armenia by Movses Khorenatsi: Book_2_#28 and Book_2_#68
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