Just as in the United States, where Karen has become derisive shorthand for an entitled, demanding woman, Colombia has its own stigmatized first name: Brayan, which is often used to refer to a reckless, low-income delinquent.
This month, President Gustavo Petro set off widespread criticism after he appeared to take the common stereotype literally to include all men named Brayan, also spelled Brian, calling them “vampire men” that leave women “pregnant and abandoned.”
His remarks, which were made during a cabinet meeting, quickly spread on social media.
The reaction was swift. One news media outlet checked Colombia’s national registry, which listed 165,538 Brayans.
Some people responded with satire: Brayan Mantilla, a popular social media figure, rallied people who share his name in a video calling for a National Brayan Day and announced the founding of the Colombian Brayan Association. Burger King even offered a special deal on sandwiches for any Brayans who showed their IDs.
“We are tired,” Mr. Mantilla said in the video. “For years we have been unfairly singled out, turned into memes and denied the right to be taken seriously in our professional and personal lives.”
“There are Brayans of all kinds,” he added. “Brayan workers. Brayan dreamers. Brayans fighting for a better future. We are not to blame for the name our parents gave us.”
Two men named Brayan have even filed lawsuits against Mr. Petro, claiming their rights have been violated. And memes depicting Mr. Petro as a schoolteacher, with the words “Raise your hand, Brayan, if you got your girlfriend pregnant and then dumped her,” have proliferated.
Beyond the humor, some say the comments reveal deeper issues of classism.
Juan Mosquera, a Colombian writer and journalist, said names like Brayan often originated from English or foreign influences and were common in lower-income communities as a signal of aspiration.
“He’s speaking ill of all poor people by saying that,” Mr. Mosquera said of Mr. Petro, adding that the stereotype cast young men from disadvantaged neighborhoods as irresponsible womanizers.
Mr. Petro did not address his comments, but Armando Benedetti, the interior minister, said they had been meant as a joke. He sought to deflect criticism in a video, emphasizing that the administration had expanded access to higher education.
“What matters is opening up opportunities — it doesn’t matter if your name is Brayan or not,” he said, adding, “Free education is the ultimate proof that we are open to everyone, especially the working classes.”
Brian Fernández said he had grown up in a neighborhood in Medellín controlled by gangs, where drug dealers were admired for their expensive cars and clothes.
Guided by his parents to see the downsides of that lifestyle, he excelled in school, he said, earning a scholarship and graduating as an architect from the prestigious National University of Colombia. Today he works on hospital design, 3-D-printed walls and bioclimatic architecture.
Still, he said, people in his professional and academic circles make assumptions about him because of the way he talks and dresses.
“Many people tell me to my face, ‘Wow, you really live up to your name, Brian,’” he said. “When I tell them my name is Brian they think I must be a bad person and are reluctant to get to know me or give me a chance.”
He said he supported Mr. Petro, but was unsettled by the president’s remarks.
“There are people who know it’s a meme, but then there are others who believe that everyone is really like that,” he added. “Maybe you don’t know any Brayans in your world of rich people.”
The controversy adds to a pattern of public gaffes linked to Mr. Petro’s improvisational style.
In February, he began televising all cabinet meetings, which the political analyst Sergio Guzmán described as “opportunities to just rant.”
In one July meeting, Mr. Petro scolded the minister of equality at the time, a Black man, for his reluctance to hire two candidates with backgrounds in the adult-film industry, saying, “Nobody who is Black is going to tell me that a porn actor should be excluded.”
Mr. Petro was elected in 2022 as Colombia’s first leftist president. He had run on a platform of agrarian reform, environmental sustainability and peace with armed groups that have been engaged in a decades-long conflict. While he has made some progress on land redistribution and environmental policy, his peace efforts have largely stalled.
Contentious proposals to revamp the public health system, corruption accusations against government officials and a confrontational foreign policyhave eroded Mr. Petro’s popularity.
At the United Nations last week, Mr. Petro called for President Trump’s arrest and addressed pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside U.N. headquarters in New York, calling on U.S. soldiers to “disobey the orders of Trump.” Hours later the U.S. State Department announced it was revoking Mr. Petro’s visa.
“This Brayan thing just shows how he just doesn’t care anymore” about what he says, Mr. Guzmán said.
“We’re just so numb,” he added. “He’s just so annoying that we’re all sort of fed up with him.”