Karen

From Danish Karen, a vernacular form of Catherine that arose in medieval Denmark.

• Caryn
• Karin
• Karyn

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkæɹən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkæɹən/, /ˈkɛɹən/
• Rhymes: -æɹən, -ɛɹən, -ɛə(ɹ)n
• Homophone: caron
• Homophone: caring (weak vowel merger, G-dropping)
• Homophones: cairn, carn (some American accents)

Karen

1. A female given name.
   • 1878 Celia Thaxter, Drift-Weed, Houghton, Osgood,1878, page 28 ("Karen"):

     Left you a lover in that far land, / O Karen sad, that you pine so long! / Would I could unravel and understand / That sorrowful, sweet Norwegian song!

   • 1918 Cecily Ullman Sidgwick, Karen, W.Collins, 1918, page 12:

     I was not called Karen after Hans Andersen's dancing girl, but after a Danish friend of my mother's who married an Englishman and was my godmother. So much for our family affairs.

First taken up as a given name in the US, and popular in the English-speaking world from the 1950s to the 1970s.

From Parthian 𐭊𐭓𐭍𐭉‎ (krny /Kārēn/), from Old Iranian *kar-ina-. The Armenian name is from Armenian Կարեն (Karen), from the same Parthian name.

• Garen (from Western Armenian)
• Kārēn (from Middle Iranian)
• Qarin, Qārin (from Arabic)
• Karin, Kārin (from New Iranian)

Karen

1. (historical) one of the seven great Parthian feudal families
2. An Armenian male given name

• Karen-Pahlav, Karen-Pahlaw

• http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/karin

From Burmese ကရင် (ka.rang, “wild, low-caste man”).

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəˈɹɛn/

Karen

1. A group of languages of Myanmar and Thailand.

Ethnologue report on the Karen languages

• anker, knare, naker, ranke

From English Karen, from Danish.

Karen

1. a female given name

A medieval variant of Katharina (“Catherine”).

Karen

1. A female given name.

• Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 83 320 females with the given name Karen have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 1910s. Accessed on 19 May 2011.

Borrowed from Danish Karen.

• Caren

Karen

1. A female given name.

• Karin (much more popular in Germany)
• Katharina

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʰaːrɛ(ː)n/

Karen f

1. A female given name

Sometimes also Karen in accusative and dative.

Karen

1. plural of Kar (“cart”)

Karen

1. A female given name of Danish origin.