- Dec 17, 2006
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Thinking back years ago I recall that there were often bossy female characters called Karen in books, TV shows and movies long before the Karen meme, memes themselves and the internet were even a thing.
Karen was a very common name for Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) and Generation X (born 1965-1980) with the name mainly used from 1940-1990 before falling out of fashion after this name occurring frequently in fiction in these decades is understandable, but why that name with that sort of character and why so often? I remember studying a book at high school where a character's bossy older sister was called Karen and she was an absolute bitch. Then there's Karen from Will and Grace, Kevin and Wayne's outspoken sister Karen from The Wonder Years and a character called Karen Dean in Home and Away in the early 1990s whose loud mouth and opinionated nature often landed her in trouble.
Did these authors and script writers somehow sense something about the name even way back then?
Karen was a very common name for Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) and Generation X (born 1965-1980) with the name mainly used from 1940-1990 before falling out of fashion after this name occurring frequently in fiction in these decades is understandable, but why that name with that sort of character and why so often? I remember studying a book at high school where a character's bossy older sister was called Karen and she was an absolute bitch. Then there's Karen from Will and Grace, Kevin and Wayne's outspoken sister Karen from The Wonder Years and a character called Karen Dean in Home and Away in the early 1990s whose loud mouth and opinionated nature often landed her in trouble.
Did these authors and script writers somehow sense something about the name even way back then?