diff --git a/src/helix/core.clj b/src/helix/core.clj
index a07ec80..5c78b96 100644
--- a/src/helix/core.clj
+++ b/src/helix/core.clj
@@ -133,17 +133,17 @@
         (throw (ex-info "Invalid hooks usage"
                         {:invalid-hooks invalid-hooks}))))
     `(do ~(when (:fast-refresh feature-flags)
-            `(when goog/DEBUG
+            `(if ^boolean goog/DEBUG
                (def ~sig-sym (signature!))))
          (def ~wrapped-name
            (-> ~(fnc* wrapped-name props-bindings
                       (cons (when (:fast-refresh feature-flags)
-                              `(when goog/DEBUG
+                              `(if ^boolean goog/DEBUG
                                  (when ~sig-sym
                                    (~sig-sym))))
                                          body))
-               (cond-> goog/DEBUG
-                 (doto (goog.object/set "displayName" ~fully-qualified-name)))
+               (cond->
+                 (true? ^boolean goog/DEBUG) (goog.object/set "displayName" ~fully-qualified-name))
                ~@(-> opts :wrap)))
 
          (def ~display-name
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@
            ~wrapped-name)
 
          ~(when (:fast-refresh feature-flags)
-            `(when goog/DEBUG
+            `(if ^boolean goog/DEBUG
                (when ~sig-sym
                  (~sig-sym ~wrapped-name ~(string/join hooks)
                   nil ;; forceReset
diff --git a/src/helix/core.cljs b/src/helix/core.cljs
index 03ea548..d79d46c 100644
--- a/src/helix/core.cljs
+++ b/src/helix/core.cljs
@@ -38,16 +38,21 @@
   [type & args]
   (let [?p (first args)
         ?c (rest args)
-        native? (string? type)]
+        native? (or (keyword? type)
+                    (string? type)
+                    (:native (meta type)))
+        type' (if (keyword? type)
+                (name type)
+                type)]
     (if (map? ?p)
       (apply create-element
-             type
+             type'
              (if native?
                (impl.props/-native-props ?p)
                (impl.props/-props ?p))
              ?c)
       (apply create-element
-             type
+             type'
              nil
              args))))
 
diff --git a/src/helix/impl/props.cljc b/src/helix/impl/props.cljc
index 2f8e6b5..063ec3b 100644
--- a/src/helix/impl/props.cljc
+++ b/src/helix/impl/props.cljc
@@ -4,21 +4,25 @@
                        [goog.object :as gobj]]))
   #?(:cljs (:require-macros [helix.impl.props])))
 
+(def aria-data-special-case-re #"^(aria-|data-).*")
+
 (defn camel-case
   "Returns camel case version of the string, e.g. \"http-equiv\" becomes \"httpEquiv\"."
   [s]
   (if (or (keyword? s)
           (string? s)
           (symbol? s))
-    (let [[first-word & words] (string/split s #"-")]
-      (if (or (empty? words)
-              (= "aria" first-word)
-              (= "data" first-word))
-        s
-        (-> (map string/capitalize words)
-            (conj first-word)
-            string/join)))
-    s))
+    (let [name-str (name s)]
+      ; this is hot path so we want to use low-level interop
+      #?(:clj  (cond
+                 (some? (re-matches aria-data-special-case-re name-str)) name-str
+                 (= (subs name-str 0 1) "'") (subs name-str 1)
+                 :else (string/replace name-str #"-(\w)" #(string/upper-case (second %))))
+         :cljs (cond
+                 (some? (.match name-str aria-data-special-case-re)) name-str
+                 (= (.substring name-str 0 1) "'") (.substring name-str 1)
+                 :else (.replace name-str #"-(\w)" #(.toUpperCase %2)))))
+      s))
 
 (defn kw->str [kw]
   (let [kw-ns (namespace kw)