3 ms·

I'm disappointed that no Francophone has ever informed me of this.

• bsaul 4y ago
  it only works if you're a french person named kevin.
• ktownsend 4y ago
  As someone with dual citizenship through marriage, and having lived 15 years in France (and speaking French at home despite English being my mother tongue), I'm amused and dismayed to discover than I'm the proverbial Karen of my adopted country ... and never had a clue before this article.
  • lelag 4y ago
    As a native anglophone, you have the required legitimacy, there should be no stigma. I'm not surprised you didn't even have a clue as there is no reason anybody would ever make fun of you.
• lelag 4y ago
  There is no stigma for anglophones to be called Kevin. Only french "Kevins" carry the stigma mostly because, as stated in the article, it carries a strong signal of having a lower social-economic background. Kevin carry that signal very strongly but it happens all the time, each time an "unusual" name gain popularity in a given period due to its appearance in popular culture. For exemple, let's take the 2016 Disney movie "Moana" which was called Vaiana in France. In the years before the movie, there were about 4 or 5 Vaiana born per year. When the movie came out, it shot up to 60. On the scale of the country, it's not much but it's still an order of magnitude increase in a single year. You can bet that being called Vaiana and be born in 2017 will carry that same signal of having parents that name their children after the popular movie of the moment. The only difference is that there were 14000 Kevins in 1991 and not 60, so it basically became a meme.