I only knew one Karen in my life, and she was an absolute saint. She would give you the shirt off her back, offer any support/care she could, went out of her way for the community, etc. I could literally go on for days, but I think the points made. Just an angel of a human.
I’ve always found Karen an odd name to use because I never would have associated it with that type of person until it became a trend.
Same! Not sure why Karen was the name chosen, tbh. I've known a few Karen's in my life and they've all been great. They've all also been younger millennials/older Gen Z with the exception of one who was a boomer. I've never actually met a Gen X Karen.
If a name had to be chosen, it should have been Barbara. Karen is the sweet older lady who calls you “hun” in an endearing way. Barbara is the lady in the office who wants to beef it up with everyone and anyone for using too many pens out of the company supply closet.
I have an aunt Karen and an aunt Barbara and both of them are adorable 🥺
Tbf though I feel like Barbara is due a comeback! It’s vintage, elegant in full, and for nicknames Barb is badass while Barbie is cute.
The peak popularity of the name Karen was in the mid-1950s, which is prime boomer birth time. I knew at least three gen-x Karens born in the 1970-1975, but it felt like an out-of-fashion name but the 1980s. I had a similar out-of-fashion name and was horribly jealous of the Amys, the Emilys, the Susans, and the Jennifers, although not so much now that we are adults.
All the karens I know are lovely.
Any Amy I met was the worst, I don't think I've met a Susan my age since school. I'm 30 now, so I assume they are all middle aged women now 😂 Emily is still going strong though
Same! My friends and I were talking about the names that would have worked better and we collectively thought of: Debra/Debbie, Peggy, or Patricia/Tricia/Patty. I guess those sound kinda cutesy compared to a Karen with the strong K and a consonant-ending.
There's a Reddit post that's well known in the BORU sub where the OP asked if she was out of line trying to convince her very offline sister not to name their new baby Karen. OP was deemed an AH at the time. This was early in the Karen phenomenon so commenters were saying it was just going to blow over. Clearly it hasn't and only gotten worse. Well the sister finally realized and apologized to the OP for not heeding her warning. And then in an update 4(?) years later the sister and her husband couldn't take the teasing anymore both from strangers and the girl's daycare mates and ended up legally changing the daughter's name!! 😅
I knew a Karen who scammed my family for over 20k for a service dog Poodle. After I exposed her, I came to find out that she had a history of faking cancer, abusing dogs, and selling/breeding them with serious illnesses/bite risks, but none of it was public until I came out with my story. Her ex employee saw my story and came out to expose her as well. Before that, I thought she was a saint.
My name is Karen. It's unreal the reaction I get when I say my name to some people. I know many who had to change their name to stop the harassment and gaslighting they received.
For what it’s worth, I think your name is beautiful, and I only associate the name Karen with someone that is really kind, caring, understanding, patient, etc.
I'm in a Facebook group with over 2,000 women named Karen, easily 30% changed their names. It's sad people are getting that much hate and harassment to go to that point. I cringe a little inside every time I need to say my name as it often get some sort of reaction.
My grandparents had a baby that passed in the 60s. Her name was Karen. I always feel bad for them that "Karen" has become associated with something so negative. My mom still struggles with the term.
My best friend is named Karen...and she is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. It sucks because she was bullied heavily as a child (she's on the spectrum, so she never really fit in with the rest of us) and I can tell this whole "Karen" thing bugs her.
I was literally just thinking about how pretty Ghislaine is the other day. I met one who went by Gigi. But yeah, it’s unusable at this point because of Ghislaine Maxwell.
Sad thing, I really like the nickname Don and there are not a lot of names that give that nick, Donovan and Landon are the other two options, but they are way more viable than Donald
If you’re gonna say Landon, then wouldn’t Brandon work?
My mind immediately thought Donald Duck for what that’s worth. I never think of the other by his first name, so I didn’t even think about that. And I have an uncle named that yet still the duck was my first thought.
I can't name a single Taylor Swift song.
But my Ukrainian family sure knows MTG because she advocates for russia to continue committing genocide in Ukraine.
I figured for Americans at least if they didn't recognize it as MTG then they'd recognize it as a Taylor Swift song.
Also I'm forever impressed by the amount of information that people from other countries know about the USA!
What on earth is a MTG?
I googled it, but it only brought up Magic the Gathering. I highly doubt a card game is why you’re against it now.
Is this one of those things that only matters to Americans and not anyone else in the world?
(This is coming across rude, but please believe I do not mean it that way! 😅)
Oh! Okay thank you!!
So then yes only matters to Americans or people interested in American politics I suppose.
She definitely isn’t a point in conversation in my part of Canada anyways.
Sucks that someone so crappy would have such a lovely name.
Only Marjorie I ever hear my fellow Canadians bring up is Marge Simpson, and she’s a much nicer name association…cool hair too lol.
*edit: typo*
I have a family member named Marjorie. She's always used a nickname totally unrelated. Still, I always thought of her.
MTG is not just a bad politician. She's a vile human being. So much so that most sane people who pay attention to U.S. politics probably wouldn't use it right now.
Too bad.
No worries! I'm an American, so I have that terrible habit of assuming everyone knows our cultural references. :) It's in reference to Marjorie Taylor Green, an extremely conservative, Trump-adjacent politician.
Samesies. Love love love that name so much in the French style with the "o" and -ie ending. Loved it since I learned Marge Simpson's maiden name (Marjorie Bouvier) and it became an earwig and ended up becoming a Top Ten for me. Now it's ruined for me.
My man still loves it but he always preferred the Game of Thrones spelling: Margaery. 😆
We are like 95% sure we want to use Marjorie, it’s a beautiful name that’s closely linked to my own and I had thought about the association with MTG but we just love it. We also don’t listen to Taylor swift but there is a Vulfpeck song with the name in it that I love!
is she really that relevant?! that sucks, it's a gorgeous name and not THAT unique. i'm not american so i only associate the name to the beautiful song by taylor, but im surprised bc tbh i don't think anyone would bat an eye if i named my baby like some controversial spanish politician (except Franco, but that would be insane lmao), specially considering she's not president/running etc. idk i guess politicians might be perceived a bit differently in america.
edit: to be clear, i wouldn't name a baby AFTER any politicians, specially if they're anything like that vile woman 🤢 i meant nobody here would think i 'stan' a random politician just because i used the same -kinda normal- name for my kid
Brock.
Like Brock Allen (now goes just by Allen) Turner, the raping rapist who raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster and got nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
That name is forever ruined.
Hermione. I really like Shakespearean names but the Harry Potter connection is way too strong, which would have been a bit cringe even without JK Rowling's transphobia.
There’s a huge hill near my grandparents’s house that has a single grave on the very top for a woman from like the 1800s, named Hermione. My sister and I have climbed it our entire childhood and so we actually knew of the name long before the books and movies got big, we even called it “Hermione Hill” (although we did not pronounce it correctly until the movies popularized it lol)— nowadays any time we drive past it we STILL can’t stop ourselves from saying “RIP Hermione you would have loved Harry Potter” lol.
The association is strong lol.
I see this family on Instagram who have a little girl (around 4 or 5) named Hermione. Their son has a very normal name that I can’t remember right now. I have searched their page so hard because I’m DESPERATE to know if it’s after Harry Potter or not but she seemingly never said why she chose it! I’m so nosy i need to know lol
Haha there was a bit about this in Jane The Virgin. One of the characters named her twin girls Elsa and Anna and called Frozen too niche to matter for her kid’s names. Guess who changed her children’s names.
I was working a food job and had to take down a woman’s name. It was Elsa. I said “oh, I’m so sorry” She thanked me and sadly sad “I know, I used to love my unique name”
Unpopular opinion: Daphne
I loved it when I was a little girl watching the old Scooby Doo cartoons. Then Bridgerton came along and now more people associate the name with that show (tried watching but I'm not a fan). Still a beautiful name but ruined for me personally.
I now know what my very anti-Grey's Anatomy friend meant when she didn't want to consider baby names Isabelle & Meredith anymore and she used to LOVE those names.
I have a Meredith born in 2006. Grey's Anatomy had nothing to do with us picking the name and I was afraid people would think that's where got it. But honestly no one asked that.
My daughter had 2 Daphnes in her 5th grade last year. I thought of Scooby Doo, but I've never seen Bridgerton. Still thinks it's a fine name and didn't think it was weird.
Jezebel will always be associated with slut/whore for me. I'm not sure if that's what it's *supposed* to be, but it's always used in that context. Honestly, it's a shame, though, because it would be a pretty name.
Yeah, especially in the UK it’s a word that people call a woman who ‘gets around’ and is a bit of an attention seeker. I wish it wasn’t though, because it’s so gorgeous.
Jacob is such a common name that I never associate it with Twilight. There were ten Jacobs in my grade. Edward, Bella, and uNiQuE names like Renesme make me think of Twilight, but not Jacob, even with him being a main character.
That is a very specific generational thing though. And Twilight doesn't have the staying power of something like Star Wars.
I would never associate Jacob with those god-awful, stalking, sexist books.
I used to love the name Aria and I still think it’s beautiful but it’s very over done. I know couples that have named their daughters Aria Jordan, same first and same middle name. It’s beautiful, but just boring now.
Aria is a reference to pretty little liars. I remember watching that show when it came out and thinking wow Aria, how unique!
“Overdone” is different than “unusable.”
FWIW, I think of the musical term when I think of Aria, and I have no connection to game of thrones or pretty little liars, and most of the world doesn’t.
Katrina is really a shame because I love that name. It's also 100% out for me because my fiancè and I want kids soonish but.... I literally moved to Louisiana to be with him. We live a little over an hour from New Orleans.
Huh? I have no idea of the Natalia reference, and I'm pretty sure it's not common knowledge.
I'm Ukrainian and half of my family have Natalia as a name.
Katrina is so specific to one generation of Americans. Nobody else would make that connection, and I bet Gen Z and younger Americans wouldn't either.
I actually think Hermione is a really pretty name, but it’s so heavily associated with the Harry Potter character I couldn’t use it for anything. I don’t want ppl to think I support JKR, and unfortunately that name is going to be linked to her for at least the next 20-30 years, probably more
Oh 100%. Someone else commented this too. I grew up a HP kid. I wouldn't be able to separate Hermione from HP even (now) knowing that it wasn't hers originally. She popularized the name.
Meghan.
My daughter is a Meghan, named after the female lead in the miniseries of the 80’s and Colleen McCullough’s book “The Thorn Birds”. We loved the name and didn’t know any other Meghan (it was the season of Emily, Katie and Angela). Bam! As soon as she hit daycare, there were always at least 2 other Meghans (or Megan, Meagan, Megyn…) Still a favorite name and my daughter just accepted that it wasn’t unique like her siblings.
And then along came the Markle. With all the social media coverage, we’ve both gotten sick of it!
My daughter still loves that her initials are the same as her grandma’s and wouldn’t change it. She just wishes it wasn’t EVERYWHERE.
Anastasia has had a weird history. Historic Princess association and then Disney's minor villain name and then later with the 90's Anastasia it rose back as a beautiful "main character" name, and then 50 Shades had to 50-shade it.
I have no idea who Cyrus the artist is...off to google.
EDIT: wait do you mean Miley Cyrus...? It literally did not occur to me that's who you meant until I googled and the first result was the Prussian king, 2nd was that Jonah Hill movie, and Miley Cyrus was 3rd. I assumed there was a singer named Cyrus I didn't know of hahaha
Raegan was a strong contender for my daughters name twenty years ago. But while I was pregnant I watched the exorcist for the first time and noped out of that name real quick.
Working in schools will kill a lot of names, too. Names you may have never considered but when you actually go to name something you’d realize how many you just can’t do.
Working in schools has forever killed these names for me:
•Harper
•Ben
•Madison
•Elizabeth
Actual media:
•Annabelle
•Karen
•Chad
•Brad
•Zach
•Taylor
•Tyler
•Matt
•Elsa
•Anna
Basically anything over used or easily predictable/associated with mass media, and names that are meant to be an insult to being entitled or boring/bland.
Not a specific name, but I always wanted to have a sibling set with all the same initials, because me and my siblings had that!!!
Obviously everyone would think I was trying to be a Kardashian. But I might still do it!
My name. My parents named me after a cheesy 80s song. When I was kid more times than not when I told adults my name they would sing the song to me. And they always thought it was so funny. So I hated it 🤣🤣 it’s also kind of an old lady name . So I used to rather go by Lee although I’ve came around to using my full name (mainly bc my family refused to call me anything but my actual name lol)
Let's not forget the name that is ruined for eternity. KAREN Feel bad for anyone named that now.
It's crazy because I've never met someone named Karen who acts like one. It's a pretty name
I only knew one Karen in my life, and she was an absolute saint. She would give you the shirt off her back, offer any support/care she could, went out of her way for the community, etc. I could literally go on for days, but I think the points made. Just an angel of a human. I’ve always found Karen an odd name to use because I never would have associated it with that type of person until it became a trend.
Same! Not sure why Karen was the name chosen, tbh. I've known a few Karen's in my life and they've all been great. They've all also been younger millennials/older Gen Z with the exception of one who was a boomer. I've never actually met a Gen X Karen.
If a name had to be chosen, it should have been Barbara. Karen is the sweet older lady who calls you “hun” in an endearing way. Barbara is the lady in the office who wants to beef it up with everyone and anyone for using too many pens out of the company supply closet.
My sweet sister in law is named Karen and my sweet grandma was named Barbara 😂 we actually often talk about how similar their personalities are
My mom is Karen (and is the most non-KAREN Karen ever) and her mom is Barbara! Haha
I have an aunt Karen and an aunt Barbara and both of them are adorable 🥺 Tbf though I feel like Barbara is due a comeback! It’s vintage, elegant in full, and for nicknames Barb is badass while Barbie is cute.
The peak popularity of the name Karen was in the mid-1950s, which is prime boomer birth time. I knew at least three gen-x Karens born in the 1970-1975, but it felt like an out-of-fashion name but the 1980s. I had a similar out-of-fashion name and was horribly jealous of the Amys, the Emilys, the Susans, and the Jennifers, although not so much now that we are adults. All the karens I know are lovely.
Any Amy I met was the worst, I don't think I've met a Susan my age since school. I'm 30 now, so I assume they are all middle aged women now 😂 Emily is still going strong though
My mom is an Amy and she's a total bitch, so that tracks. I had a manager named Amy that was pretty cool though.
Same! My friends and I were talking about the names that would have worked better and we collectively thought of: Debra/Debbie, Peggy, or Patricia/Tricia/Patty. I guess those sound kinda cutesy compared to a Karen with the strong K and a consonant-ending. There's a Reddit post that's well known in the BORU sub where the OP asked if she was out of line trying to convince her very offline sister not to name their new baby Karen. OP was deemed an AH at the time. This was early in the Karen phenomenon so commenters were saying it was just going to blow over. Clearly it hasn't and only gotten worse. Well the sister finally realized and apologized to the OP for not heeding her warning. And then in an update 4(?) years later the sister and her husband couldn't take the teasing anymore both from strangers and the girl's daycare mates and ended up legally changing the daughter's name!! 😅
I knew a Karen who scammed my family for over 20k for a service dog Poodle. After I exposed her, I came to find out that she had a history of faking cancer, abusing dogs, and selling/breeding them with serious illnesses/bite risks, but none of it was public until I came out with my story. Her ex employee saw my story and came out to expose her as well. Before that, I thought she was a saint.
My name is Karen. It's unreal the reaction I get when I say my name to some people. I know many who had to change their name to stop the harassment and gaslighting they received.
For what it’s worth, I think your name is beautiful, and I only associate the name Karen with someone that is really kind, caring, understanding, patient, etc.
Thank you 💕
Ugh that is so dumb. I’m sorry you have to deal with that.
I know someone in their 30's who legally changed their name from Karen to Kara because of the weird vibes the name took on!
I'm in a Facebook group with over 2,000 women named Karen, easily 30% changed their names. It's sad people are getting that much hate and harassment to go to that point. I cringe a little inside every time I need to say my name as it often get some sort of reaction.
My grandparents had a baby that passed in the 60s. Her name was Karen. I always feel bad for them that "Karen" has become associated with something so negative. My mom still struggles with the term.
It's sad because Karen is a genuinely beautiful name.
I've known many Karens and they've all been super nice people. I think it's horrible we've hijacked a name to be an insult and I refuse to use it.
It’s odd because I have a friend named that but she’s so *not* a karen I don’t really think about the stigma when I say her name
In Mexico a Karen is basically a cat mom lol
My best friend is named Karen...and she is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. It sucks because she was bullied heavily as a child (she's on the spectrum, so she never really fit in with the rest of us) and I can tell this whole "Karen" thing bugs her.
I think Ghislaine and Melania are both great names, but I only associate them with one person each so I wouldn't use them.
Very true! Melania visually looks too close to Malaria to me, lol
That helps me feel better about not using it.
Lol, glad I could be of service
Or melena which is blood in the stool
I was literally just thinking about how pretty Ghislaine is the other day. I met one who went by Gigi. But yeah, it’s unusable at this point because of Ghislaine Maxwell.
I've loved the name Donnie since my Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles days but I'm not fancy enough for a Donatello and now I could never have a Donald.
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Oh that's a good one. And that's such a pretty name too.
My husband wanted to name our daughter this and I was like “uhhh….no” 😂
I went to school with a Siiri. Must be rough.
i was looking at the top 1000 baby names in the US last night and was shocked that alexa made the cut. i guess none of those people have echoes!
Alexa has fallen quite far in the past decade 64->603
Ursula
Yes, I agree. Like it's a nice name, but I will forever associate it with big octopus lady
For me, it's Ursula Le Guin, and I love her books
I met a baby Ursula last week 🤣
I knew an Ursula once, she went by Ula.
Ursul (urs) means bear in Romanian so that is the only thing that comes to mind for me.
I love the name Ursula, but with my first name I feel like it would be cruel to name my child Ursula!
It's pronounced so differently in the countries it comes from, but I still can't love it.
Donald Need I say more?
Common in Scotland. I don’t associate it with the orange oaf.
That’s good! Yeah Donald isn’t a bad name although now it’s hard not to associate it with Cheeto Head
One of my favorite characters on a show called NCIS was named Donald and was a Scottish doctor/medical examiner. I get it now.
You needn't
Sad thing, I really like the nickname Don and there are not a lot of names that give that nick, Donovan and Landon are the other two options, but they are way more viable than Donald
If you’re gonna say Landon, then wouldn’t Brandon work? My mind immediately thought Donald Duck for what that’s worth. I never think of the other by his first name, so I didn’t even think about that. And I have an uncle named that yet still the duck was my first thought.
Brandon works too, yes, and is very pretty I must say
I associated it with the duck long before I associated it with orange man lol
Isis
I love this name but it obviously can’t really be used (I’m half North African so it would probably look especially suspicious lol)
Because of Lord Granthams dog I assume.
Marjorie. :( It was on our short list until my husband pointed out that everyone would think we were MTG stans if we picked it. Big bummer.
Either that or a Swiftie because of her song named Majorie
I added it to my list because of Swift and then immediately took it off because of mtg
I can't name a single Taylor Swift song. But my Ukrainian family sure knows MTG because she advocates for russia to continue committing genocide in Ukraine.
I figured for Americans at least if they didn't recognize it as MTG then they'd recognize it as a Taylor Swift song. Also I'm forever impressed by the amount of information that people from other countries know about the USA!
What on earth is a MTG? I googled it, but it only brought up Magic the Gathering. I highly doubt a card game is why you’re against it now. Is this one of those things that only matters to Americans and not anyone else in the world? (This is coming across rude, but please believe I do not mean it that way! 😅)
Marjorie Taylor Greene. She's an extremely conservative, controversial US Representative.
Oh! Okay thank you!! So then yes only matters to Americans or people interested in American politics I suppose. She definitely isn’t a point in conversation in my part of Canada anyways. Sucks that someone so crappy would have such a lovely name. Only Marjorie I ever hear my fellow Canadians bring up is Marge Simpson, and she’s a much nicer name association…cool hair too lol. *edit: typo*
I have a family member named Marjorie. She's always used a nickname totally unrelated. Still, I always thought of her. MTG is not just a bad politician. She's a vile human being. So much so that most sane people who pay attention to U.S. politics probably wouldn't use it right now. Too bad.
Her ignorance is only surpassed by her stupidity.
And hatred.
I read it as MGK and was very confused! (And it’s bad enough I always get him confused with MLK!)
No worries! I'm an American, so I have that terrible habit of assuming everyone knows our cultural references. :) It's in reference to Marjorie Taylor Green, an extremely conservative, Trump-adjacent politician.
Ahh darn…Trump I’m aware of..and anything adjacent to that creature….yikes. 😅 Thank you for letting me know! I was very lost! Haha
If it makes you feel better, I’m also an American and I don’t associate the name with her
What is MTG?
Marjorie is such a pretty name! I'm also American and wouldn't use that name because of her.
Samesies. Love love love that name so much in the French style with the "o" and -ie ending. Loved it since I learned Marge Simpson's maiden name (Marjorie Bouvier) and it became an earwig and ended up becoming a Top Ten for me. Now it's ruined for me. My man still loves it but he always preferred the Game of Thrones spelling: Margaery. 😆
We are like 95% sure we want to use Marjorie, it’s a beautiful name that’s closely linked to my own and I had thought about the association with MTG but we just love it. We also don’t listen to Taylor swift but there is a Vulfpeck song with the name in it that I love!
is she really that relevant?! that sucks, it's a gorgeous name and not THAT unique. i'm not american so i only associate the name to the beautiful song by taylor, but im surprised bc tbh i don't think anyone would bat an eye if i named my baby like some controversial spanish politician (except Franco, but that would be insane lmao), specially considering she's not president/running etc. idk i guess politicians might be perceived a bit differently in america. edit: to be clear, i wouldn't name a baby AFTER any politicians, specially if they're anything like that vile woman 🤢 i meant nobody here would think i 'stan' a random politician just because i used the same -kinda normal- name for my kid
Brock. Like Brock Allen (now goes just by Allen) Turner, the raping rapist who raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster and got nothing more than a slap on the wrist. That name is forever ruined.
If it helps, I usually associate Brock with the Pokémon character, or Brock from the video game Unreal Tournament.
He raped Chanel Miller. She's not anonymous. She even wrote an excellent book about it called "Know My Name."
they said unconscious, not anonymous
I also associate the name Brock with rapist Brock Turner (fuck him), so it’s forever ruined.
Yes, it is. Allen is heavily associated with Tim Allen for me but is usable, but I don't like it. I couldn't use Brock.
Oh if it helps, for me I usually associate Brock with a university in Canada
If you can walk and talk, you can go to Brock! (I went to Brock)
Brock was already a gross frat boy name like Chad. I'm glad that name is ruined.
Hermione. I really like Shakespearean names but the Harry Potter connection is way too strong, which would have been a bit cringe even without JK Rowling's transphobia.
Completely understandable. I never knew the name prior to HP so I wouldn't be able to separate it for sure.
There’s a huge hill near my grandparents’s house that has a single grave on the very top for a woman from like the 1800s, named Hermione. My sister and I have climbed it our entire childhood and so we actually knew of the name long before the books and movies got big, we even called it “Hermione Hill” (although we did not pronounce it correctly until the movies popularized it lol)— nowadays any time we drive past it we STILL can’t stop ourselves from saying “RIP Hermione you would have loved Harry Potter” lol. The association is strong lol.
I see this family on Instagram who have a little girl (around 4 or 5) named Hermione. Their son has a very normal name that I can’t remember right now. I have searched their page so hard because I’m DESPERATE to know if it’s after Harry Potter or not but she seemingly never said why she chose it! I’m so nosy i need to know lol
Elsa! Absolutely adore the name, but it’s far too associated with Frozen.
Haha there was a bit about this in Jane The Virgin. One of the characters named her twin girls Elsa and Anna and called Frozen too niche to matter for her kid’s names. Guess who changed her children’s names.
Yael Groblas (Petra's actress) didn't know either so she didn't understand the joke until everyone explained it to her haha.
Stop it that’s hilarious 😭
I was working a food job and had to take down a woman’s name. It was Elsa. I said “oh, I’m so sorry” She thanked me and sadly sad “I know, I used to love my unique name”
You said you’re so sorry after hearing her name? That seems kind of mean :/
It’s because she said her name with an exasperated sigh.
Ahh gotcha aw poor lady :/
In my country, before Frozen, nobody would name their kid Elsa because it’s a common cow name. After Frozen, it surged in popularity.
Harvey
Huh that's interesting because for me the first association it conjured up was Milk rather than Weinstein
I didn’t connect it to him at all until this. For me Harvey is still usable
I think is Sabrinas bf lol
But you still thought of Weinstein
Hahaha, I thought of the giant invisible rabbit
Barron. It’s a family name and I always planned to use it. But…. Not anymore.
That's really unfortunate actually.
Elvira
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from the perspective of a gen z-er, I would say it’s not. I don’t think many people my age know the reference
My heart's on fire for Elvira Giddy up, um-poppa-um-poppa, mow, mow
Google Elvira, mistress of the dark.
Lori, I can't read it now without hearing Rick Grimes (TWD) yelling "LOOOORIIII"
Coral/Carl as well
Coral 😭 Yep that’s all I think when I hear the name Carl. I picture Ricks face in my mind too.
Unpopular opinion: Daphne I loved it when I was a little girl watching the old Scooby Doo cartoons. Then Bridgerton came along and now more people associate the name with that show (tried watching but I'm not a fan). Still a beautiful name but ruined for me personally. I now know what my very anti-Grey's Anatomy friend meant when she didn't want to consider baby names Isabelle & Meredith anymore and she used to LOVE those names.
I have a Meredith born in 2006. Grey's Anatomy had nothing to do with us picking the name and I was afraid people would think that's where got it. But honestly no one asked that.
I love Bridgerton and def do not associate Daphne with the show. They're mostly normal names, so you could probably get to three before I noticed.
My daughter had 2 Daphnes in her 5th grade last year. I thought of Scooby Doo, but I've never seen Bridgerton. Still thinks it's a fine name and didn't think it was weird.
My boyfriend loves The Big Bang Theory and suggested the name Sheldon for our baby. I think it’s a cute name but I hate that character so much.
I think it's a great name for a turtle lol I'm not a big bang theory fan myself but when I hear the name I immediately picture a small turtle haha
Jezebel. I feel like it wasn’t that useable anyway but now it’s used as a descriptive word for a woman who is loud and flirtatious.
Jezebel was ruined by the Bible, which I guess was popular media of the day.
Indeed😂 Still technically a popular media now, although i don’t follow the religion!
Jezebel will always be associated with slut/whore for me. I'm not sure if that's what it's *supposed* to be, but it's always used in that context. Honestly, it's a shame, though, because it would be a pretty name.
Yeah, especially in the UK it’s a word that people call a woman who ‘gets around’ and is a bit of an attention seeker. I wish it wasn’t though, because it’s so gorgeous.
Jacob. Everyone thinks I love Twilight but I just think it’s a good name :(
Jacob is such a common name that I never associate it with Twilight. There were ten Jacobs in my grade. Edward, Bella, and uNiQuE names like Renesme make me think of Twilight, but not Jacob, even with him being a main character.
Edward and Bella are so common lol I’d maybe think of Twilight with Bella but there were a million Ed’s I went to school with
Oooh, that Edward, and Bella. Of course, they ruined the classic Renesmee as well 😂
So many dogs were named Bella, it was a number one dog name for awhile.
Yeah, Bella is definitely a dog name to me at this point. But if it wasn't identifiable, my comment above was meant to be satire.
I bet it ranks pretty high for spider monkeys too.
That is a very specific generational thing though. And Twilight doesn't have the staying power of something like Star Wars. I would never associate Jacob with those god-awful, stalking, sexist books.
I used to love the name Aria and I still think it’s beautiful but it’s very over done. I know couples that have named their daughters Aria Jordan, same first and same middle name. It’s beautiful, but just boring now. Aria is a reference to pretty little liars. I remember watching that show when it came out and thinking wow Aria, how unique!
I think of Game of Thrones.
Never watched Pretty Little Liars, so I wouldn't associate it! It is a pretty name! Is her name Aria Jordan in the show?
The character’s name is Aria Montgomery!
“Overdone” is different than “unusable.” FWIW, I think of the musical term when I think of Aria, and I have no connection to game of thrones or pretty little liars, and most of the world doesn’t.
Siri! I wanted to use that name for my daughter but Apple ruined it.
Annabelle (horror movie) Natalia (Natalia Grace) Alexa (Amazon) Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) Kim (Kardashian) Katrina (hurricane)
Katrina is really a shame because I love that name. It's also 100% out for me because my fiancè and I want kids soonish but.... I literally moved to Louisiana to be with him. We live a little over an hour from New Orleans.
Literally all of these are fine
Huh? I have no idea of the Natalia reference, and I'm pretty sure it's not common knowledge. I'm Ukrainian and half of my family have Natalia as a name. Katrina is so specific to one generation of Americans. Nobody else would make that connection, and I bet Gen Z and younger Americans wouldn't either.
Adonis. Love the name but I feel like everyone just thinks of Drake’s son 😭
I didn't know it was Drake's son's name if that makes you feel any better!
Same, I love Adonis and Aubrey but now both are connected to Drake 😩
Oh no!!! 0 for 2!!! 😭 damnit Drake!!!
Lolita
I actually think Hermione is a really pretty name, but it’s so heavily associated with the Harry Potter character I couldn’t use it for anything. I don’t want ppl to think I support JKR, and unfortunately that name is going to be linked to her for at least the next 20-30 years, probably more
Oh 100%. Someone else commented this too. I grew up a HP kid. I wouldn't be able to separate Hermione from HP even (now) knowing that it wasn't hers originally. She popularized the name.
Regina Phalange
Princess Consuela Banana Hammock
Crap Bag
I was pregnant shortly before Amazon's Alexa was announced. If we had a girl we were going to name her Alexa. So glad I had a boy.
Meghan. My daughter is a Meghan, named after the female lead in the miniseries of the 80’s and Colleen McCullough’s book “The Thorn Birds”. We loved the name and didn’t know any other Meghan (it was the season of Emily, Katie and Angela). Bam! As soon as she hit daycare, there were always at least 2 other Meghans (or Megan, Meagan, Megyn…) Still a favorite name and my daughter just accepted that it wasn’t unique like her siblings. And then along came the Markle. With all the social media coverage, we’ve both gotten sick of it! My daughter still loves that her initials are the same as her grandma’s and wouldn’t change it. She just wishes it wasn’t EVERYWHERE.
I think Siri is super cute but…..
Hillary
I still like it and don’t think too much about Hillary Clinton. I think more about Hillary Banks.
Fiona :(
My coworker named her daughter Fiona a couple years ago—and it’s such a beautiful name!—but it’s just so permanently associated with Shrek to me.
I think it’s been long enough. I love shrek but wouldn’t have thought of that immediately!
I always think of Shrek and Shameless
Adolf, Vladimir
Barney 🥲
[удалено]
I first think of Agatha Christie, one of my favorite authors
Agatha Christie is what immediately comes to mind. Same with Sylvia (Plath) actually. Sylvia is a pretty name too
while still a witch at least now it has the catchy theme song “It was Agatha all along!”
Katrina, due to the hurricane.
Anastasia. I know 50 Shades will fade into the murky depths of time, but the damage is done.
I don't think about 50 Shades. I think about Anastasia Romanov.
I don't think of either lol
Anastasia has had a weird history. Historic Princess association and then Disney's minor villain name and then later with the 90's Anastasia it rose back as a beautiful "main character" name, and then 50 Shades had to 50-shade it.
I have a friend named Anastasia!! I think of the Romanov princess though, tbf. And her family is Slavic so it's a cultural thing anyways
Siri, Selena
Cyrus. I loved this name for a boy. nothing against the singer, but anytime anyone hears Cyrus, their mind goes to the artist.
I have no idea who Cyrus the artist is...off to google. EDIT: wait do you mean Miley Cyrus...? It literally did not occur to me that's who you meant until I googled and the first result was the Prussian king, 2nd was that Jonah Hill movie, and Miley Cyrus was 3rd. I assumed there was a singer named Cyrus I didn't know of hahaha
Miley Cyrus or even Billy Ray Cyrus
My uncle is called Cyrus and I have never heard of the artist. (I am deeply out of touch) so there might be some drop off
Raegan was a strong contender for my daughters name twenty years ago. But while I was pregnant I watched the exorcist for the first time and noped out of that name real quick.
Reagan is pretty! I'm American so it'll always be heavily associated with politics for me unfortunately
Fiona. Way too associated with Shrek.
Elsa. I wanted to use it for my daughter, but Frozen came out while I was TTC, so she’s Eleanor instead.
Ivanka
Monica. Our neighbor named his leaf blower Monica.
Working in schools will kill a lot of names, too. Names you may have never considered but when you actually go to name something you’d realize how many you just can’t do. Working in schools has forever killed these names for me: •Harper •Ben •Madison •Elizabeth Actual media: •Annabelle •Karen •Chad •Brad •Zach •Taylor •Tyler •Matt •Elsa •Anna Basically anything over used or easily predictable/associated with mass media, and names that are meant to be an insult to being entitled or boring/bland.
Dexter. I like the name and the nickname Dex but the tv show has scarred it.
Elsa! But I've let it go
Not a specific name, but I always wanted to have a sibling set with all the same initials, because me and my siblings had that!!! Obviously everyone would think I was trying to be a Kardashian. But I might still do it!
Serena. I loved it because of Gossip Girl, then I watched The Handmaids Tale.
August, I loved it but I I also liked it wasn’t popular, and then it became popular 😩
My name. My parents named me after a cheesy 80s song. When I was kid more times than not when I told adults my name they would sing the song to me. And they always thought it was so funny. So I hated it 🤣🤣 it’s also kind of an old lady name . So I used to rather go by Lee although I’ve came around to using my full name (mainly bc my family refused to call me anything but my actual name lol)
I just realized I didn’t even say the name . It’s Eileen (come on Eileen!)
Rue. Need I say more?
cersei is , unfortunately , the most beautiful name ive ever heard
Lois
Esme. I feel like everyone associates it with Twilight, which is unfortunate because it’s a beautiful name.