Is "a" mandatory in "I'm a whole new (Name)"?

Let's say, your name is Kate and you say "I'm a whole new Kate!"

Now, can you drop "a" and say "I'm whole new Kate!"?

Or is it mandatory to keep it?

Solution 1:

No, you can't drop the indefinite article. The name Kate is in general a proper noun but in this type of constructs it becomes a common noun. It begins to denote not the Kate, but a whole class of "Kate"s. A Kate is any instance of the class Kate — such as "the angry Kate", "the five-year-old Kate", "the Kate now", "the Kate you're in love with" etc. As a common noun, it requires an indefinite article in this context:

I'm a whole new Kate.

Solution 2:

No. The article is needed, as per Armen's analysis. "I'm whole new Kate" would mean that your name is...

Whole New Kate