In France, why are there Kevin memes and Kevin skits and Kevin jokes and even a Kevin novel?
, or “brother-in-law,” signifies “an uncultivated, vulgar, narrow-minded and phallocratic man,” according to one leading dictionary, and is a whole pejorative universe in itself.) Like to-go coffee or athleisure, Kevin strikes certain French people as a gauche Anglo-Saxon import. During this year’s Presidential election, the extreme-right candidatecondemned the name as “a symptom of de-France-ization and Americanization.
The name Kevin comes from Ireland. The anglicized form of Caoimhín, it is said to mean “handsome birth.” According to Behindthename.com, it became popular in English-speaking countries outside of Ireland before spreading across Europe in the second half of the twentieth century. There are Kevins in the works of James Joyce and Octavia Butler, and a Kevin among the Power Rangers. There are entertainer Kevins , basketball Kevins , and Kevins we haven’t heard much from recently .
In France, the name caught on later. In 1952, only four newborns in the entire country were given the name; they were the first French Kevins on record, according to data collected since the year 1900. Usage fluctuated until the nineteen-seventies, and then soared. From 1989 to 1994, Kevin was France’s most popular name for boys, peaking in 1991, with 14,109 births.
After announcing his crowdfunding drive, Kévin Fafournoux received some three hundred messages from Kevins around the country, testifying to their ordeals. Some told of being shunned after introducing themselves at bars, or zapped on dating apps as soon as their names popped up. One Kevin, a psychologist, said that he had agonized about whether to put his full name on the plaque outside his office building.
A headline in Le Gorafi, the French equivalent of the Onion, once mocked “The Passing of the Oldest Kevin at Thirty-two Years Old.” But the Kevins, aging into action and perhaps a form of solidarity, are not content to surrender to social contempt. Kévin Fafournoux envisions his film—“a documentary about Kevins, with Kevins, directed by a Kevin”—as a means to help “reverse the trend and put Kevins back in fashion.
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