'She's pretty insistent on Karen': Husband refuses to let wife name their daughter 'Karen,' cue marriage drama

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  • 01
    "I can't okay 'Karen' as a first name"
  • 02
    My wife and I recently found out we're having a daughter. We hadn't really talked about names before but we both agreed that each of us will retain veto power. When we did start discussing names, both of us wanted to name her after our late mothers.
  • 03
    Her mom's name was Karen and my mom's name wasn't a meme. I told her the baby can take my mom's name as her first name and her mom's name as a middle name, or have an entirely different name, but I can't okay "Karen" as a first name in any case. She got offended because
  • 04
    she just wants to honor her mother and thinks I have a problem with that. I just don't want to set our daughter up to be bullied throughout her life. I told her I'd be fine with whatever first name she picks as long as it doesn't lead to the baby being picked on later in life, but she's pretty insistent on Karen.
  • 05
    Edit: Wow, I didn't expect this to blow up. I thought I'd delete this since this issue is pretty much resolved now but you guys are clearly enjoying this, so I thought I'd provide an update. We had a talk about this and why she had such an emotional
  • 06
    reaction to my veto. Ever since her mom dod suddenly when she was only fourteen, she's wanted to name her first daughter after her and she didn't really ever consider that the meme might be a potential obstacle.
  • 07
    By that point, I'd thought about it for a while and realized that, as many of the comments have pointed out, Karen likely won't be a meme by the time she's old enough to feel its impact. So I told her I'll recant my veto but we should still reconsider it because it still has potential complications and we might just
  • 08
    come up with a better tribute. While exchanging ideas, we realized that both our mothers very coincidentally had the exact same middle name, Elizabeth (well mine had two middle names, and Elizabeth was one of them, but still). It seemed completely perfect to both of us so we're going with it. Thanks for all your inputs!
  • 09
    | Acceptable-Message59. NTA, it was a normal name, now it's a joke. Imagine "baby Karen". People are gonna make jokes all her life.
  • 10
    brittypop87 I personally feel like the "Karen" thing will die off one day, and our childrens' generation will likely not know anything about it. However, I can see where you would still be adamant about not wanting to name her that.
  • 11
    There is a bit of a stigma around that name TODAY. I think you guys should take a different route in name picking and just steer clear of tribute naming. Good luck!!! NTA
  • 12
    TaterrrTot3. NTA. Give her 2 middle names and pick a completely new first name? Or if there is a way to combine your mom's name and her mom's name to create a new name, that might be cool.
  • 13
    Orrrrr, maybe you could suggest something like. Corinne (could be spelled different ways like Korrine or Karyn - this is my middle name and it's spelled Caryn) or Carley (Karlie, Karley) or Ren? Then it's kinda still got some of her mom's name in it to honor her, but also gives your daugther her OWN name, too.
  • 14
    [deleted] ⚫ NTA. I get where you are coming from. We did the same thing except we used my mom's middle name as her first name. That way we knew it was a tribute to my mom but no one else needed to know.
  • 15
    This was also long before the Karen meme started. Another reason we chose the middle name is we felt it would be weird and a little uncomfortable for me to have to discipline my child (which thankfully didn't happen often) and use my mom's name at the same time.
  • 16
    Raising_some_Cain. NAH. you both have good reasons, you suggested a compromise and you've discussed veto power. I think the only solution you can find is to convince her to accept other suggestions and find something else you both agree on.
  • 17
    cedreamge NAH but you're being quite silly, mate. Memes don't live 20 years.
  • 18
    thatphotogurl Your baby will thank you for NOT naming her Karen. NTA.

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