Proper names with apostrophes?

[Laurence Horn]

I wonder whether for equal time considerations there aren't athletes (or maybe artists) at some other college named Devil's Spawn Something-or-Other (or, in honor of both the great Braves' left-hander and awe-dropping, Devil's Spahn Warren).  Oh, and to respond to Neal, yes, I should have specified that I was limiting my domain to true possessive apostrophes, so no D'Artagnans or D'Shawns or O'Briens need apply.

LH

On Jan 2, 2012, at 6:49 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:

> 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/
>
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