English

Pronunciation

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

Proper noun

Karen

1. A female given name. First taken up as a given name in the U.S.A., and popular in the English-speaking world from the 1950s to the 1970s.
   • 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.

Etymology 2

From Parthian 𐭊𐭓𐭍𐭉 ‎(krny /Kārēn/). The Armenian name is from Armenian Կարեն ‎(Karen), from the same Parthian name.

Alternative forms

• Garen (from Western Armenian)

Proper noun

Karen

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

Translations

Etymology 3

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

Pronunciation

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

Proper noun

Karen

1. A group of languages of Myanmar and Thailand.

External links

Ethnologue report on the Karen languages

Anagrams

• anker, naker

Danish

Etymology

A medieval variant of Katharina ‎(“Catherine”).

Proper noun

Karen

1. A female given name.

References

• 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.

German

Alternative forms

• Caren

Proper noun

Karen

1. A female given name borrowed from Danish Karen.

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʰaːrɛ(ː)n/

Proper noun

Karen f

1. A female given name

Declension

Sometimes also Karen in accusative and dative.

Luxembourgish

Noun

Karen

1. plural of Kar ‎(“cart”)

Norwegian

Proper noun

Karen

1. A female given name of Danish origin.

French

Adjective

karen m, f ‎(plural karens)

1. Karen (people, attributive)

Swedish

Noun

karen

1. definite plural of kar