Here's A Howdeedoo!

Regarding the entry on what names are allowed, a reader writes:

Speaking of naming kids “God,” I’m reminded that Grace Slick did just that with hers–but with a lower-case “g” because she didn’t want to be pretentious….

Yeah, I was thinking about that when I wrote the post, but couldn’t remember if it was Grace Slick or another artist. She also later changed the name to something more normal.

Still, naming your kid “god” is something you’d expect from a Rock diva (DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER! Killer Latin pun in immediate vicinity!)

Now here’s a howdeedoo! You probably could get away with naming your kid “Diva.”

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

7 thoughts on “Here's A Howdeedoo!”

  1. “Diva” is one of those words that I had never heard of until just a couple of years ago when Barbara Streisand was referred to as such. The word was being tossed around like it was an everyday word. Either it has been a word in common use and I’ve been out to lunch, or it’s a recent revival or invention of the word.

  2. As long as we’re talking about Latin names… what about first name Defensor, middle name Fidei? 😀

  3. GoodForm: The word has been around for a long time but has been changing its meaning rapidly in the last few years. Until recently the main *English* meaning of the term “diva” was “a female opera star.” From there it seems to have branched out to include other female singers (e.g., Streisand) and then to fashion-conscious young women who act as tempramental as if they were famous singers. Now the term is being used in a positive sense for the latter (as if being a teenage jerk were a good thing), special toys are being marketed to small girls to encourage diva-like attitudes, etc. This is, of course, one of the signs of the apocalypse.

    Brad: Naw, nobody’d want to do that. 😉

  4. Speaking of pretentiousness, there was a God (capital G) Shammgod who played basketball for PROVIDENCE College, of all places, in the mid 1990’s. I hope he had a nickname.

  5. Grace Slick later changed her daughter’s name to “China,” by which I believe she is still known. And Frank Zappa’s youngest daughter is “Diva.” (For those of you who haven’t had your minimum daily requirement of rock-star trivia yet…)

  6. I’m really getting sick of the overuse of “diva.” A few other words/phrases I don’t like: (1) arguably; (2) proactive; (3) blah blah blah; (4) yada yada yada; and (5) “doable”

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