What's In a Name?

Well, if you're Cao Pi from Dynasty Warriors 5, cow urine. Seriously though, I'm gonna throw this out here, because it's driving me a little nuts. Should Power Girl start calling herself Power Woman instead? I'm not saying this is going to happen, it's just been on my mind the last few days.

I think this started after I said that Johnny Storm dates girls, but Ms. Marvel is a woman. It's tragic how some throwaway joke I made can cause me problems. I don't know why this is bugging me, since I like "Power Girl".

Using "Girl" gives me this sense that she's enjoying saving lives and stomping villains. She recognizes the importance of it, and that it's the right thing to do with her powers, but also that it doesn't have to be treated like work. She's got power, she uses it to do good, has fun, it's all good. If she changed the name, it would give me the impression it wasn't fun for her anymore. Now it's a job, so she has to take it seriously.

This really makes no sense given that Catwoman certainly seemed to be able to enjoy herself, at least until she found out about the mindwipe thing, while Wonder Girl doesn't seem to take a very light-hearted view of superheroing. Maybe that's the whole "trying to live up to Diana" thing, but Power Girl doesn't seem to have that same problem with Superman.

Or maybe I don't understand Power Girl's character at all. I haven't really read any JSA, so I'm mostly flying blind here. You tell me.