![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Bob and Karen and Yvette and Isis
Dec. 28th, 2020 10:46 amWhat's in a name? For the most part, we are given our names by our parents. As we get older, we may or may not like those names. If we don't, we can either change our names (whether legally or just socially) or make use of whatever wiggle room is inherent in the names we were blessed or cursed with. For example, the name on your birth certificate may be associated with numerous nicknames, or you can construct your own. You may have several given names and your preference may be to use a middle name rather than a first name. Or initials. Whatever.
Most parents do their best to choose names that will not cause their children undue embarrassment as they get older. But we can't always predict the connotations that certain names will have, five or ten or twenty years down the road.
In this country, many of my generation will recall the 1980 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, when Québecoises who preferred the status quo were disparagingly referred to as "Yvettes", obedient little housewives who would stand by their men and reject Quebec's bold, assertive move towards self-determination.
And what parent could have predicted that naming a child after a goddess of wisdom could be seen as anything but positive? Until ISIL came along, that is. Then we get the Handmaid's Tale and the Marthas - "Martha" being a rather popular name in our northern indigenous communities. Coincidence or not?
With the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, we've seen an arbitrary denigration of the name Karen. You know, when I first heard somebody described as a "Karen", I honestly thought the reference was to that minority ethnic group prevalent in some parts of the world, places like Burma (or Myanmar if you prefer).
But no. It's a derogatory term for a middle-aged, middle-class woman, inevitably white, who acts as if she considers herself better or more entitled than her black counterparts. The woman who calls 911 if a black person does not immediately shift so she can maintain the requisite 2 metres of distance when passing by on a bridge. Or the woman in Montclair, New Jersey, who aggressively demanded to know if her black neighbours had the requisite permits authorizing the construction going on in their back yard:
https://www.thecut.com/article/montclair-new-jersey-permit-karen.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab
But clearly there are black and other BIPOC people who are named Karen too. And on the two occasions I remember being in Montclair, it struck me as a perfectly pleasant community.
It's unfortunate when perfectly good names are suddenly perceived as bad.
What can we do about it? Not much, probably.
In a future post, I'll talk about other words and phrases that have taken on new meanings or connotations over the last year or so.
Most parents do their best to choose names that will not cause their children undue embarrassment as they get older. But we can't always predict the connotations that certain names will have, five or ten or twenty years down the road.
In this country, many of my generation will recall the 1980 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, when Québecoises who preferred the status quo were disparagingly referred to as "Yvettes", obedient little housewives who would stand by their men and reject Quebec's bold, assertive move towards self-determination.
And what parent could have predicted that naming a child after a goddess of wisdom could be seen as anything but positive? Until ISIL came along, that is. Then we get the Handmaid's Tale and the Marthas - "Martha" being a rather popular name in our northern indigenous communities. Coincidence or not?
With the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, we've seen an arbitrary denigration of the name Karen. You know, when I first heard somebody described as a "Karen", I honestly thought the reference was to that minority ethnic group prevalent in some parts of the world, places like Burma (or Myanmar if you prefer).
But no. It's a derogatory term for a middle-aged, middle-class woman, inevitably white, who acts as if she considers herself better or more entitled than her black counterparts. The woman who calls 911 if a black person does not immediately shift so she can maintain the requisite 2 metres of distance when passing by on a bridge. Or the woman in Montclair, New Jersey, who aggressively demanded to know if her black neighbours had the requisite permits authorizing the construction going on in their back yard:
https://www.thecut.com/article/montclair-new-jersey-permit-karen.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab
But clearly there are black and other BIPOC people who are named Karen too. And on the two occasions I remember being in Montclair, it struck me as a perfectly pleasant community.
It's unfortunate when perfectly good names are suddenly perceived as bad.
What can we do about it? Not much, probably.
In a future post, I'll talk about other words and phrases that have taken on new meanings or connotations over the last year or so.
