# Ever know anybody with the given name "God"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 21, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251 "2010-05-21T13:48:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/41 "2010-05-26T21:51:18Z")
I used to work with a guy named Atilla. No, I never called him “Hon.” ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/42 "2010-05-27T05:32:01Z")
A long dead ancestral uncle of mine was named Jason Lucifer. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if his illiterate parents had just stuck whatever name they’d heard most recently during a sermon on him. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/43 "2010-05-27T05:41:47Z")
In the black American ghettos, there is a culture called the Nation of Gods and Earths, or ‘the five percenters’. In that culture, it is common for people to name their children different renditions of ‘god’. Me’ssiah Divine Goddess Earth Divine God Allah… and so on. The parents also take similar names, but they usually don’t take the steps of legally changing their own names (sometimes they do). But very commonly, they will give their children those names, legally, at time of birth. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/44 "2010-05-27T05:44:22Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Actually, a _yael_ is a mountain goat or ibex. But I guess it could be seen as a (holy) double entendre. Pro’ly not, given that Yael was a **Canaanite** name, anyway… Joel works, though! And someone calling out “Oh, Eli” – not **too** uncommon a name in English, even outside the Bible Belt – is saying, literally, “OMG!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/45 "2010-05-27T05:59:08Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Please allow me to introduce myself … Let me guess… ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/46 "2010-05-27T11:24:42Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I used to work with a guy named Atilla. > > No, I never called him “Hon.” “Call me ‘The’.”\ ---
**Author:** ![E\_I\_R\_It\_s\_the\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/258eb7/32.png) [@E\_I\_R\_It\_s\_the\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E_I_R_It_s_the_Law)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/47 "2010-05-27T14:28:28Z")
I was in a little town in Germany called Wertheim in the late 80’s serving in the Army. We had a new guy show up and his first name was Lord. (He went by his middle name which I can’t recall) The cherry on top of that story is that his dad was a preacher. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/48 "2010-05-27T15:31:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > [Shatner] Why does God need a Hi-Def TV?[/Shatner] To justify getting a Blu-ray player, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/49 "2010-05-27T15:40:28Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > For that matter, just how common are first names like: > > Cthulhu > Satan > Beelzebub > Mephistopheles > Lucifer > > etc.? If there have been any mentions of these bad guys I’ve missed them. Attila’s as close as I’ve seen. Surely there must be some iconoclastic mommies and daddies out there with the desire to ruin their child’s life for him or her. Wouldn’t it be cool if we wound up with a President like Beelzebub Bartlett or something? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/50 "2010-05-27T15:56:06Z")
I know a little girl named Athena, and a middle-aged guy named Vishnu. Actually, I know a few Athenas but other than the little girl, they are Greek. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/51 "2010-05-27T16:11:06Z")
I knew a guy with the first name Lucifer. Everyone called him Lucy. He was Bajan (native of Barbados)–I don’t really know if it is a common name down there or not. I went to high school with a (gorgeous) girl named Athena. She was of Greek extraction. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/52 "2010-05-27T16:53:46Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > My brother (who posts here as **Cricetus** ) I did not know that. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/53 "2010-05-27T17:35:02Z")
My mother’s name is Jehovina – “Little God(dess).” My grandfather thought it was silly to be able to name boys “Jesus,” but have girls be deprived of “divinity.” ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/54 "2010-05-27T17:50:01Z")
Ahem. As a fellow Mythos inspired name, I would just like to nitpick that Cthulhu isn’t technically a “god” in the sense like the other names, more like an intergalactic alien being with cultish worshippers. He’s not even the strongest creature in the Cthulhu Mythos, that designation is for Azathoth, who is actually a lot more godlike than our friend Cthulhu ---
**Author:** ![ChordedZither](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@ChordedZither](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChordedZither)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/55 "2010-05-27T19:22:28Z")
Some years ago, I lived down the hall from a Jamaican man whose first name was Thankgod. His wife and children all had pretty conventional names. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/56 "2010-05-27T19:26:44Z")
I have a second cousin Thor. His New Age dad gave him the name for reasons obscure to the rest of the family; we have no Scandinavian heritage to justify such a move. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251/57 "2010-05-28T18:03:42Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > > [@cochrane](#): > > > > I used to work with a guy named Atilla. > > > > No, I never called him “Hon.” > > “Call me ‘The’.”\ Sorry, I didn’t get that. 😕 I admit it, you whooshed me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anybody-with-the-given-name-god/540251.md?page=2)