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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Gemma Jones

BBC Radio 1’s Matt Edmondson paying 100 people cash to change their name to Karen

BBC Radio 1’s Matt Edmondson is taking drastic action to stop the name Karen becoming extinct.

The radio DJ has declared he’ll pay 100 people to legally change their names to Karen amid news the name is on its way out. He decided to launch the initiative after seeing that the number of children being born with the name Karen had dropped below 500 and if this trend persists there'll soon be no Karens left at all, making the name 'extinct'.

He plans to match the price of a deed poll request – £42.44 - in the hopes that it'll get the ball rolling on saving the name for future generations.

READ MORE: ITV Lorraine fans 'switch off' as they make same complaint minutes into show

The name has come to be used to refer to someone seen as entitled and demanding. When you Google a Karen, you will see someone with 'the hairstyle' looking moody as they demand to speak to a manager.

But Matt wanted to remind people that not all Karens are the same, and some are actually "lovely." Speaking to Metro, he said: "There’s a difference between a Karen which is the shorthand for someone complaining and just someone who’s called Karen and is more than likely a lovely person."

He added: "We looked into it and saw there was a huge decline in Karens being born, it peaked in 1965. The latest data we have is from 2020 and there are only 325 new Karens and so we figured why don’t we celebrate the name Karen and put some distance between it and the word Karen – we’re on a mission to save the name."

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