American Girl Names Ruined by the Internet, Ranked

She would like to speak to the manager.

American Girl Names Ruined by the Internet, Ranked

Little girl yelling and holding pink birthday cupcake

It's every parent's baby-naming nightmare. After weeks or months of weighing American girl names for your child, you settle on the perfect one. Suddenly and without warning, it becomes an internet pejorative, a stereotype for some personality that everyone agrees is the worst.

As you can see from our rankings, some names get it worse than others. Definitely give this list a look over before attaching any of these names to your little girls forever. These are the American girl names ruined by the internet.

30. Sharon

A name that went from a glamorous association with actress Sharon Stone to associations with being screamed by a confused Ozzy Osbourne.

If that weren't bad enough, it's also a name occasionally featured in memes as a negative reference.

Poor "Sharooooon."

29. Denise

A very common name, though its desirability as a girl's name may have taken a hit thanks to a popular skit by comedy team Key and Peele featuring a former inner-city teacher's struggle to pronounce ordinary names.

As of now, the clip earned more than 200 million views on YouTube.

Sorry, "Dee-Nice."

28. Olivia

Olivia is actually one of the most popular American girl names around, probably pushed on by the popularity of singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo.

Unfortunately, that may just be the reason why the name is "ruined." If everyone is naming their daughter Olivia, it makes each individual a little harder to stand out. Especially if one particular person becomes associated with the name.

Then you're just the girl "with the same name as" that one very famous person.

27. Kylie

Speaking of which, Kylie was a nice enough name before the Kardashians and Jenners came along.

Not everyone wants to associate their daughter with a reality TV show family prone to controversies, so this name might get skipped until the fame goes away.

Which could take some time.

26. Kim

Once again, here's one of the better-known American girl names strongly linked with a very polarizing reality TV starlet who's often negatively discussed across the internet.

It also has the distinction of being one of the rare single-syllable names impacted by social media discourse.

25. Isis

Isis is a beautiful name that unfortunately got linked to the abbreviation for a terrorist organization.

Since then, it will likely get avoided like the plague until such time as the internet no longer associates it with ISIS.

24. McKenzie

McKenzie and its various spellings are increasingly ruined by the internet, due to a combination of its popularity as an American girls name and its association with predictable blandness and abuse of Pinterest fonts.

23. Patty

It was a perfectly fine girl's name until "Permit Patty" came along and ruined it for everyone.

22. Brittany

A cute name that is sometimes viewed in a poor light due to its presumptive association with mean and wealthy popular girls.

The internet did rally around Britney Spears. Perhaps Britney's visibility and public perception might lead to a lessening of hard feelings toward the alternate spellings of the name.

21. Maddie

Maddie gets associated with the tragic story of missing toddler Madeleine McCann, sometimes referred to as "Maddie," whose haunting photographs continue to circulate online.

There's also a popular young dancer, Maddie Zieglar, who became a breakout star thanks to appearing in Sia's music videos.

While that could be a plus for some, the very controversial "Dance Moms" show connection might leave some hesitant to associate their kid with a program where a grown woman yells at children.

20. Annie

The "Annie, are you OK?" jokes likely are older than social media and the internet, but it's hard to ignore the massive uptick in these jokes thanks to all the related Michael Jackson memes.

By the way, Annie is fine. She wants everyone to stop asking.

19. Janet

While on the topic of Jacksons, "Miss" Janet is no longer in action and so isn't able to save this name from being yet another pejorative thrown around the internet at ladies that millennials and zoomers find obnoxious.

18. Mia

Unfortunately, this is one of a couple of American girls (the other is further down) used in certain pro-eating disorder groups as a slang term or hashtag promoting bulimia.

We sincerely miss when this name was more likely to be associated with something like "Mama Mia!"

17. Raleigh

When it comes to American girl names, it doesn't get much more American than sharing a name with a state capital (North Carolina).

That said, some might find the name a bit too folksy, and vaguely reminiscent of the most unimaginative of home crafts.

16. Ashley

Ashley is a cute girl's name, and even Urban Dictionary can't stop saying nice things. But that might actually be the joke.

After all, no one is seen as innately perfect because of their name. It could be that the internet is rolling its eyes at Ashley, laughing at her and not with her.

In which case, it may be worth it to avoid a name that puts lots of social pressure and future derision on your daughter.

15. Cayleigh

There are so many spelling variations for Cayleigh it's kind of ridiculous.

Even so, this name somehow managed to be stereotyped as a boringly common girl's name.

Clearly, the spelling choices have not helped.

14. Alexis

The name Alexis is sandwiched between an association with Alexa, the popular Amazon app, and Lexus, a luxury car.

And so Alexis could find itself the butt of jokes related to either (or both) for as long as these brands remain highly recognizable online.

13. Kiki

We can all blame rapper Drake for this one. In his hit single "In My Feelings," he repeatedly asks someone name Kiki if she still loves and rides for him.

After many a meme, we're sure the real-world Kikis are probably tired of being asked, and the answer at this point is probably a resounding, "No!"

12. Hillary

Thanks to constant and polarizing political discourse and a host of buttery email jokes, the name Hillary will probably be a source of right and left-leaning memes for some time.

11. Ana

This is another name, along with the earlier mentioned Mia, that was co-opted by pro-eating disorder websites.

Though many more might associate the name with Princess Ana from "Frozen," and exhausting nature of these films' popularity.

In either case, we recommend Ava as a likeable, less controversial alternative.

10. Elsa

While on the topic of "Frozen," Ana's sister Princess Elsa certainly caused a notable spike in baby girls named after her.

However, this Disney princess might cause a lot of American girls to be, much to their chagrin, forever associated with a song that's not as quite as charming once you've heard it for the million and eleventh time.

9. Meg

A simple and even grown-up alternative to Megan. How could it possibly get ruined? Oh yeah, "Family Guy" memes encouraging everyone to tell you to shut up.

We imagine a girl with this name could only be silenced so many times before exploding.

Yikes.

8. Debbie

Poor Debbie. We used to think of delicious cakes whenever we heard the name.

Now it's heavily associated with being a "downer."

7. Jessica

For years, Jessica was a reliably popular American girl name. So much so that it's one of the more commonly mocked names when social media wants to throw shade at someone.

6. Stacey

Stacey has recently risen to prominence as a pejorative name, typically as a reference to someone seen as plastic and superficial.

Though, to be fair, this assumption often comes from the kind of internet jerks who shouldn't be dating anyone, regardless of what her name is.

5. Alexa

Who would have thought an app and device that makes life easier for most people would also ruin a lovely baby name?

As the Alexa tool successfully weaved its way into many American homes, it made every girl sharing the name the butt of all sorts of internet jokes demanding she does or finds things for others.

It might not be nearly as bad as, well, the upcoming finalists on this list, but we imagine getting treated like a digital butler could get old very fast.

4. Susan

Susan is another name the internet associates with someone unlikable, though perhaps the name isn't quite as in jeopardy due to not having a hair cut or specific personality profile associated with it.

With that in mind, you may be better off naming your daughter Sue or Suzett.; Susanna might be pushing it.

3. Becky

The internet labels anyone named "Becky" as a very basic and shallow person. The recipients of this online pushback are overwhelmingly white, as noted in Beyoncé's song "Sorry."

While the negative connotations didn't start with Mrs. Knowles-Carter, we can safely say she put the nail in the name's coffin.

Nobody wants to be a Becky, and because Rebecca often shortens to it as a nickname, that idea is off-limits for the same reason.

2. Felicia

It's possible to have never seen the cult classic "Friday," but odds are you've heard the phrase "Bye Felicia" or viewed an image of the meme on the Internet.

Though the film came out in 1995, during the internet's relative infancy and well before social media, somehow the catchphrase gained new life online, and with that came trying times for anyone named Felicia.

As such, you may want to skip this name for your little girl.

1. Karen

Karen will probably go down as one of the most lambasted names in history, all while not being associated with any one specific person. Instead, the name owes its negative online perception to a combination of factors, but most notably, a questionable haircut and an overwhelming desire to speak with the manager.

The problem here is that Karen was an extremely popular name, to the point where almost everyone knows someone named Karen. The internet deemed it fair to label all Karens as this way because the behavior associated with them is as common as the name.

There are very nice Karens out there, but until the internet decides that they aren't the worst people in society, this is a name you will probably want to put a red line through for many years and absolutely avoid as a baby name.

Will These Names Be Ruined Forever?

It might be some time before "Karen" or "Felicia" join the ranks of acceptable American girl names. After all, the internet makes it hard for the public to forget about why these naming stereotypes exist.

Still, there's nothing to suggest these names will stay viewed in a bad light forever. In time, Karen may surrender the throne to a new pejorative. It might even fall out of fashion altogether to attach stereotypes to names.

If you want to be safe from naming your daughter something that might one day earn the ire of the internet, go for either a single syllable name or a name with three or more syllables.

Despite a few exceptions, the vast majority of American girl names ruined by the internet have two syllables. Keep this in mind and choose with care.