Forget Karen, Davids are set to be the biggest complainers of 2022

What started out as an innocent name, ‘Karen’ is now a pejorative term used to describe ‘an uptight, middle-aged woman that wants to speak to the manager’*, according to definitions online. But is this really accurate? Are Karens the worst of us all when it comes to online complaints?

MrQ has analysed almost 80,000 negative reviews on Trustpilot and TripAdvisor for some of the most popular brands, dining venues, tourist attractions, and supermarkets, to reveal the people most likely to submit a complaint.

The top 10 names most likely to leave a negative review online

Over the last few years ‘being a Karen’ has turned into an online meme, with people posting videos on social media of people lashing out at others for no good reason. But when it comes to leaving negative reviews on the Internet, which names top the list?

Davids rank as the biggest complainers on the Internet

Male names dominate the top 10 list when it comes to complaining online, with David taking the lead with a total of 1,028 reviews. This is followed by Paul and John, with 969 and 967 reviews respectively. Sarah rounds off the top 10 and is also the top female name most likely to leave a scolding review, with 0.6% of all reviews analysed coming from a ‘Sarah’.

Results show Karen’s really do complain one of the most online, coming in as the second-highest female name to leave a bad review

Overall, men are 131% more likely to complain online than women, but which female names leave the most negative reviews?

While there are people that object to being called a ‘Karen’, the trend does in fact live up to its name as it comes in second place for most likely to complain online (with 373 negative reviews). Interestingly, more old-fashioned names such as Julie, Susan, and Karen rank as the biggest complainers, compared to more millennial names such as Daisy.

Lakeland, Home Bargains and Oak Furnitureland rank as the most loved brands according to reviews data

Lakeland is crowned the UK’s most loved brand on the internet, with just 1% of over 77,000 reviews receiving one star, closely followed by the discount store Home Bargains (3%). On the other end of the scale, toy retailer Hamleys has the least satisfied customers, with an astounding 89% of all reviews being negative with just 1 star.

The supermarkets with the biggest complaints online, with Asda receiving the most scolding reviews

Asda takes the lead as the UK’s supermarket with the most negative reviews, with an astonishing 75% of reviews (out of almost 10,000) receiving just one star. Meanwhile, Waitrose revealed to be the least complained about supermarket, however 52% of all reviews were still negative.

Once again, men are more likely to leave one-star reviews for supermarket brands, with people named John leaving the highest number of complaints.

Fast food chains lead the way as the worst-reviewed dining venues

A large percentage of customers visiting some of the world’s most famous establishments were clearly very unhappy with their visit with KFC topping the list with almost 80% of all reviews being negative. Burger King followed closely at 74%, and the pizza chain Papa John’s at 73%. On the other hand, Krispy Kreme and Frankie & Benny’s had the lowest ratio of one-star reviews, with 30% and 32% respectively.

Big Ben is the most complained about tourist attraction

Compared to supermarkets and fast food chains, tourist attractions were found to have a fairly small amount of negative reviews. Big Ben has the most one-star reviews (31% of all reviews), whereas the likes of the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Edinburgh Castle saw just 1% of negative reviews: