Editing Sharon (section)

==Usage history==
Use as a feminine name began in the early 20th century, first entering the statistics of the 1,000 most popularly given names in the United States in 1925.
Its inspiration was possibly the heroine of the serial novel ''The Skyrocket'' by [[Adela Rogers St. Johns]], published in 1925 and made into a [[The Skyrocket|romantic drama film]] starring [[Peggy Hopkins Joyce]] in 1926.

The name's popularity in the United States took a steep increase only in the mid-1930s, however, and peaked during the 1940s, remaining a top 10 name for most of the decade. The variant ''Sharron'' is on record during the 1930s to 1970s, with a peak popularity in the US in 1943. The more eccentric spelling ''Sharyn'' was popular only for a brief time in the 1940s, peaking in 1945.

The name's popularity has steadily declined since the 1940s (except for a slight rise in the late 1950s), falling out of the top 100 after 1977, out of the top 500 after 2001, and out of the top 1,000 names for American girls after 2016.<ref>[http://www.socialsecurity.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi Popular Baby Names] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150421201854/http://www.socialsecurity.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi |date=2015-04-21 }}; socialsecurity.gov; accessed 1 January 2015.</ref>

In the [[United Kingdom]], its popularity peaked during the 1960s. It was the 10th most popular female name by 1964 and was still as high as 17th in 1974 (when it was at rank 70 in the United States), but a sharp decline in popularity followed and since the 1980s it has not featured in the top 100.<ref>[http://www.babynames.co.uk/meaning_origin_name_Sharon.htm Sharon - Meaning And Origin Of The Name Sharon], BabyNames.co.uk; accessed 1 January 1, 2015.</ref> Names that [[rhyme]]d with Sharon  such as [[Darren]] and [[Karen (name)|Karen]] were also popular in the [[Anglosphere]] during the same time period.

In the 1980s, the name Sharon was [[stereotype]]d as a “[[chav]]” name in the United Kingdom, signifying a [[working class]] [[teenage]] girl who works in a [[supermarket]]. By the 2010s, the name Sharon had become associated with [[meme]]s [[Mockery|poking fun]] at [[Busybody|overbearing]] [[middle age]]d women who make complaints to [[authority]] figures. The [[Dehumanization|demeaning]] [[Karen (slang)|stereotype]] has been attributed to [[sexism]] and [[age discrimination]] and has caused difficulty for women named Sharon.<ref>{{cite web
 | url = https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/2018/01/karen-sharon-becky-chad-feels-name-becomes-meme
 | title = Karen, Sharon, Becky, and Chad: How it feels when your name becomes a meme
 | last =Tait
 | first =Amelia
 | date =24 January 2018
 | website = newstatesman.com
 | publisher = New Statesman
 | access-date = 26 January 2025
 | quote = }}</ref>

While appearing on the [[BBC]]'s ''[[Celebrity Mastermind]]'', contestant [[Amanda Henderson]] was asked to name the Swedish teenage climate activist who wrote a book titled [[No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference|''No One's Too Small to Make a Difference'']]. Henderson answered "Sharon." Following the broadcast, climate activist [[Greta Thunberg]] (the correct response to the question) changed her name to Sharon on her [[Twitter]] bio (which remained there for the day: 3 January 2020).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50989594|title=Greta Thunberg changes Twitter name to 'Sharon'|date=2020-01-03|access-date=2020-01-05|language=en-GB}}</ref>