"Karen" has, in recent years, become a widespread meme referencing a specific type of middle-class white woman, who exhibits behaviours that stem from privilege. "Karen" is associated with the kind of person who demands to "speak to the manager", carries out racist micro-aggressions, such as asking to touch black people's hair and report on people for doing anything they feel personally threatened by. "Karen" became widely vilified during the 2020 pandemic, and while the exact origins are not known, many of us (especially all the nice Karens out there) feel it is time to put it to rest. Have you ever used the term "Karen" as an insult?

The name Karen is a feminine given name of Danish origin that means "pure". It was highly popular in North America during the 1950s and 1960s (peaking at #3 in the US in 1965), but has since declined drastically in popularity due to its adoption as a slang term. Are you named Karen or do you know a Karen?

Karen is not the only name that has been vilified. My Mom's aunt was originally named Yenta, a Yiddish female name, Yente (or Yenta), which comes from the French or Old Italian word gentile, meaning noble, gentle, or refined. The meaning shifted in the 1920s and 1930s through the Yiddish theater and newspaper humor columns, particularly through a fictional character named "Yente Telebende," who was portrayed as a henpecking and gossipy woman. The name is now associated with someone who is meddlesome, gossipy and can't keep a secret. My great aunt disliked her name so much she legally changed it to Yaffa. Can you think of any other name has become associated with something troublesome or unattractive?