# I Don't Like this Shorthand Way of Using People's Names **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2020, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318 "2020-06-09T19:50:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bibliothecarius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@Bibliothecarius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bibliothecarius)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/61 "2020-06-11T09:47:56Z")
I’ve come across someone named Jihad before. I imagine he gets stopped at airports _a lot_. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/62 "2020-06-11T10:42:07Z")
Lots of people around here are named Jihad. Osama is rarer. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/63 "2020-06-11T11:57:43Z")
As a very progressive boomer, I have to vote against the appropriation of words that already refer to some people to now serve as an insult. Since we already have “entitled bitch” in the vocabulary we don’t need “Karen” to do double duty; even better, we don’t need the “bitch” in there as an insult specific to women. “Entitled jerk” would be fine – which also fixes the problem that not everybody knows all the code memes. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/64 "2020-06-11T12:12:19Z")
I guess I must be too close to it - "Karen"s are middle aged, right?- because I don’t get the association at all. Karen was a popular name in my brother’s class (he’s 5 yrs older)but I don’t recall many in my age group. And because it was so ubiquitous at one time, it makes sense there would be a lot of them out there today. Other than that, I don’t get the entitled part. Is it really just short hand for “all women of a certain age are bitches”? Sorry to be dense or overthink it. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/65 "2020-06-11T12:28:35Z")
Jack Tar ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/66 "2020-06-11T12:30:48Z")
“Judas” is a name you don’t see around much (except as an epithet). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/67 "2020-06-11T13:31:29Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I guess I must be too close to it - "Karen"s are middle aged, right?- because I don’t get the association at all. Karen was a popular name in my brother’s class (he’s 5 yrs older)but I don’t recall many in my age group. And because it was so ubiquitous at one time, it makes sense there would be a lot of them out there today. Other than that, I don’t get the entitled part. Is it really just short hand for “all women of a certain age are bitches”? Sorry to be dense or overthink it. No, it’s more like: we’ve noticed there’s a certain type of bitchy, usually middle-aged woman who likes to complain to management and is just generally rude and entitled. What’s a stereotypical name for someone of her generation, and let’s pick one that has a little “bite” to it. (By “bite” I mean the sound of it. “Karen”‘s got that nice hard “k” in it, that strong "a’, and two syllables to make it punchy. Not that this is something they thought through, but in picking a stereotypical name for a woman of that generation, I think that’s part of the reason it just “sounded right.”) ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/68 "2020-06-11T13:48:43Z")
I don’t like it either, but I don’t expect anything to be done about it except on a personal level. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/69 "2020-06-11T15:09:02Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Yeah, I work with a girl named Felicia. I’m always very careful not to say “By Felicia”. It’s always “Take care” or “See ya later.” I used to work (distantly) with a guy who was always a level or two above me in the organizational hierarchy, though never in my “chain of command,” but every time I interacted with him, I felt a little disrespectful calling him by his first name, which everyone did. It only took me one time calling him “Mr. Bates” to realize why everyone called him by his first name. ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/70 "2020-06-11T16:33:22Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I guess I must be too close to it - "Karen"s are middle aged, right?- because I don’t get the association at all. Karen was a popular name in my brother’s class (he’s 5 yrs older)but I don’t recall many in my age group. And because it was so ubiquitous at one time, it makes sense there would be a lot of them out there today. Other than that, I don’t get the entitled part. Is it really just short hand for “all women of a certain age are bitches”? Sorry to be dense or overthink it. Yeah, if we go by peak name popularity, the bulk of real people named Karen in the U.S. are late middle-aged or older. (Karen was a top ten name between the mid 1950s and the mid 1960s, after which it became less popular. I was born in 1960.) Yet the meme “Karens” seem to be younger. On Reddit, they are often characterized as anti-vaxxer moms. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/71 "2020-06-11T17:44:57Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > It only took me one time calling him “Mr. Bates” to realize why everyone called him by his first name. I wonder if, as a child, he was referred to as master? ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/72 "2020-06-11T17:51:20Z")
The name probably should have been “Catherine” because of my son’s second wife’s tantrums.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/73 "2020-06-11T17:56:17Z")
> [@Monstera\_deliciosa](#): > > Yeah, if we go by peak name popularity, the bulk of real people named Karen in the U.S. are late middle-aged or older. (Karen was a top ten name between the mid 1950s and the mid 1960s, after which it became less popular. I was born in 1960.) > > Yet the meme “Karens” seem to be younger. On Reddit, they are often characterized as anti-vaxxer moms. In the '70s it was “Jennifer” and “Scott.” I recall seeing a single-panel comic of a class photo where the caption said “First Row, L-R: Jennifer, Scott, Scott, Jennifer, Scott, Jennifer, Jennifer…” ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/74 "2020-06-11T18:02:49Z")
A sorta relative announced they were naming their baby boy Lazarus. I think her mom talked her out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/75 "2020-06-11T18:16:38Z")
> [@Ynnad](#): > > From what I can tell, the Karen meme fails the Rule 34 test. Give it time… ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/76 "2020-06-12T00:07:41Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > How about “Shylock”? > > The trend is nothing new. It’s just that in the past, “generic” names were mostly used to mock nationalities and ethnic groups - Bubba, Zeke, Guido, Paddy, Fritz, and more recently, Hadji. It’s not an admirable practice I don’t think “Bubba” is offensive when used within the subculture of the Southeastern U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/77 "2020-06-12T01:43:15Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Lots of people around here are named Jihad. Osama is rarer. Would “Osama” be more rare than post 1945 “Adolf”? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/78 "2020-06-12T05:52:29Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > It’s also Ferris Bueller’s girlfriend’s name. Sloane is also the girlfriend of “E” on the T.V. show \*Entourage \* which I admit wasn’t the same level of cultural touchstone. It’s one of those last-name-as-a-first-name sounding deals, to me. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/79 "2020-06-12T05:58:09Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > Would “Osama” be more rare than post 1945 “Adolf”? One of my classmates this term at college was named Osama. He often replied to my posts in the class discussion forum. The name kind of caught my attention but I didn’t dwell on it. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318/80 "2020-06-12T12:40:23Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > In the '70s it was “Jennifer” and “Scott.” > > I recall seeing a single-panel comic of a class photo where the caption said “First Row, L-R: Jennifer, Scott, Scott, Jennifer, Scott, Jennifer, Jennifer…” As someone named Scott, who grew up in the '70s, I must object to this. Quite the contrary, I always thought that being named “Scott” was weird, precisely because I didn’t know, nor had I ever heard of, anyone else with that name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-this-shorthand-way-of-using-peoples-names/855318.md?page=5)