Karen English: Hello, my name is Karen English. I've always liked my first name, Karen, because to me it sounds plain and serious. No frills. I think it's because it ends with the consonant 'n.' There are a lot of Karens and Patricias and Dianes and Susans in my generation, which makes me grateful not to be in my mother's generation where there are a lot of Minervas and Albertas and Mabels and Gerts. Now my last name, English, I got from my husband. People often say it's the perfect writer's name, and I suppose it is in a way. However, it doesn't make me the perfect writer. It has its advantages because it's easy for English speakers and for people who don't have English as their first language to remember. It is, after all, the name of a very popular language. The only drawback is that while people usually remember my name because they've got that association, I don't always remember theirs.