Proper names with apostrophes?

[Ben Zimmer]

On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 5:18 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
> I don't know how common this is.  But there's a basketball player for
> St. John's University (NYC) named God'sgift Achiuwa (as he appears in
> box scores) or God's Gift Achiuwa (as he appears on the web, e.g. in
> http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/ncb/columns/story?columnist=3Ddarcy_kieran&id=3D6480215).
> No doubt not the only Christian (I assume) name with an apostrophe in
> it but I can't think of others I've encountered.
> (Maybe it's something about the Big East Conference; a basketball player
> for rival Providence College a few years ago was named God Shammgod.
> Too bad he never got the chance to go man-on-man against God'sgift.)

Elsewhere in the NCAA, Wake Forest's football team recently recruited
a defensive end from Florida named God's Power Offor. (Like Mr.
Achiuwa, he's originally from Nigeria.)

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/andy_staples/01/18/ncaa-recruits-names/index.html

On the Wake Forest website, he's Godspower Offor:

http://www.wakeforestsports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/offor_godspower00.html

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org