Gen Z has officially taken the heat off of Karens everywhere by declaring Jessica the new name to describe an overly entitled, middle aged person with short hair who loves to complain.
So why the change you ask?
Well, in case you haven’t heard, the oldest Millennials are now entering their mid-40s…aka prime Karen age. Various TikTok videos decided a newer moniker made sense due to the popularity of the name Jessica in the 1990s. But much like when Gen Z announced a definitive winner in the side part vs middle part war, Gen Y is having none of it. As of January 2026, the derogatory name swap has become a hot topic on Reddit, with multiple users pointing out that both Karen and Jessica are traditionally used to describe women, while there’s yet-to-exist a definitive term for men who behave in the same way.
Despite Karen videos being around for years and Jessica now making its way into the mainstream, men, at least for now, are still getting away scot-free in the great derogatory name debate. And while we’re not saying people shouldn’t be called out people for behaving badly, if there’s going to be an update the terminology, men should get one, too.
Now, you may be asking yourself, “Well, who would be the male ‘Jessica’?” Well, the two most popular names for boys born in the ’80s and ’90s were Michael and Christopher…so those would be the equivalents.
