It wasn't supposed...

To be called the "God particle". 

SIEGEL: I want to ask you about this particle's nickname, the "God particle." What did Higgs, who I've read is an atheist, think about the nickname the "God particle"?

MARTIN: I'm sure - I actually haven't ever asked him this directly, but I'm sure he doesn't like it. Almost all particle physicists detest that name. It was actually Leon Lederman, who's a Nobel laureate, that came up with it. But he was trying to call it "that goddamn particle," and that wasn't allowed by the publishers so it became the "God particle."

So the name stuck and I think it's fine because then people know what we're talking about. But secretly, all of us hate the name, the "God particle." [More]

That would have made reporting the news a little tricky. But maybe it wouldn't have upset the religious right as much.