Aliases of the Doctor

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During his travels in time and space, the Doctor employed many different aliases; sometimes only briefly and sometimes on an ongoing basis. Owing to his refusal to tell all but a few people his real name, he often had names bestowed upon him by others, often to his chagrin.

The Doctor's Real Name

Ubiquity of the Title

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The Doctor's calling card. DW:Remembrance of the Daleks

"The Doctor" was not, in fact, a name, but a title. His given name was not generally known (see below), and as such the very title "the Doctor" was an alias. It has been implied his given name was ceremoniously withdrawn and stricken by his Cousins, as punishment for a disgrace he visited upon his House. (NA: Lungbarrow) When asked about the Doctor's name, his companion Peri Brown once said she'd been told she couldn't pronounce it. (BBCR: Slipback) Even when he was twice put on trial by his own people, the Time Lords, he was only ever referred to during these events as "the Doctor" (DW: The War Games), although The Valeyard, who prosecuted the second trial (and who, himself, was a future manifestation of the Doctor), acknowledged that it was an alias. (DW: Trial of a Time Lord) However, as the Doctor chose that "name" as part of Gallifreyan custom (DW: The Sound of Drums), its use in an official capacity is not unexpected.

The Doctor was able to keep his true name hidden despite numerous "mind-probe" attempts, both voluntary (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace) and involuntary. (DW: The Shakespeare Code) I thought you all should know, The Doctor was known on his home planet, Galifray, as Christo Chuimhne de Lungborrow.


Individuals Who Know or Might Know His Name

The Master and the Doctor had known each other since their Prydon Academy days, and by one account even earlier (BFA: Master), but it is not known for certain whether he ever knew the Doctor's true name, although he was well aware that "the Doctor" was an alias. (DW: The Sound of Drums) Another classmate of the Doctor's, Drax, may have known his real name, but instead referred to the Doctor by the nickname "Thete", short for Theta Sigma. (DW: The Armageddon Factor; The Happiness Patrol)

Madame de Pompadour recognized it as an alias when she was briefly connected to the Doctor's mind (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace), stating "Doctor...Doctor who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?". Whether or not Madame de Pompadour actually learned his name this way remains undisclosed. She was able to see into his mind and into his past, although it was established that if mind-reading was done in this way, memories could be closed off at will. That said, the Doctor was not aware that she was reading his mind at the time.

River Song, who when the Doctor first encountered her, claimed to have known him at some point in his future, is one of the only individuals confirmed to know his true name. In order to win the Doctor's trust, and prove her "credentials", she was seen to whisper the name into his ear. The Doctor seemed particularly shocked at this, later saying to her "there is only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name, only one time I could."(DW: Forest of the Dead)

She whispered the Doctor's name for a duration of roughly two seconds, suggesting the name may only be a few syllables long (assuming she uttered a complete name). The significance of the Doctor's statement afterwards is open to a number of possible interpretations. As Steven Moffat made a point of mentioning the Doctor's name (and its secrecy), it is possible he will make some sort of a point of it in the upcoming Series 5. Indeed, he has stated in the past that he always felt the Doctor's name was never revealed only because it must have been some "terrible secret".

At least one other person, the Doctor's companion Samantha Jones, was also told his real name. (EDA: Unnatural History, Vanderdeken's Children) Whether the Doctor's statement to River Song applies to her as well is unclear.

Near the end of his tenth incarnation, members of an unidentified pan-dimensional race came to know the Doctor's real name. At this point he was of the opinion there was no one left in the universe who knew it. (BBCR: The Last Voyage)

Significance

Far from being a random title, or one intended to inflate his credentials, the Doctor did, indeed, possess at least one doctorate (DW: The Armageddon Factor; The Mysterious Planet) On other occasions he described himself as a "Doctor of many things", or, indeed, "everything." (DW: Utopia) Exactly what his doctorate(s) were for remain a mystery, although on several occasions the Doctor stated he was not a medical doctor (although that didn't stop his tenth incarnation from sporting a stethoscope on occasion).

Attempts to Discover His True Name

The Carrionite Lilith, unable to discover the Doctor's true name even with the "witchcraft" used by her kind, remarked, "There is no name. Why would a man hide his title in such despair?" (DW: The Shakespeare Code) The psychically-gifted Evelina, who attempted to foretell the Doctor's future, remarked that his "true name" was in fact "hidden". (DW: The Fires of Pompeii)

List of Aliases

During his life, numerous names were either used by, or bestowed upon the Time Lord most widely known as the Doctor.

The Doctor

As noted above, The Doctor itself was an alias, despite it being the name by which the Time Lord was most widely known. As per Gallifreyan custom, he chose this alias himself. (DW:The Sound of Drums) On at least one occasion, a Human knew this name without the Doctor even saying it out loud. (NA: Cat's Cradle: Warhead) His other aliases often included the title "Doctor". He implied to Peri that his given name also began with such a title. (DW: The Mysterious Planet) Drax, a fellow Time Lord, indicated that the Doctor did indeed possess a doctorate (although in what is not indicated). (DW: The Armageddon Factor) According to one account, during his first incarnation, the Doctor adopted this name for the benefit of Human colonists on the planet Iwa at the same that his grand-daughter adopted the name "Susan". (TN: Frayed)

John Smith

John Smith was the alias the Doctor often used on Earth and around Humans when a "standard" name was often required or demanded. It was usually preceded by the title "Doctor", though not always - for example, when he worked undercover as a teacher at a school and as a patient in a hospital. (DW: School Reunion, Smith and Jones) The earliest known use of the name occurred during his first incarnation, when he used a library card with the name Dr. J. Smith while still living at 76 Totter's Lane (DW: The Vampires of Venice), although the first time this name was used on-screen was during his second incarnation, devised by his companion at the time, Jamie McCrimmon (who would not have known of the Doctor's earlier use of the name) (DW: The Wheel in Space). Later, he adopted it on a semi-regular basis during his third incarnation while exiled on Earth when he served as unpaid scientific advisor to UNIT. (DW: Spearhead from Space, et al)

As "John Smith" is considered a very generic name in some Earth cultures, the Doctor's use of the alias was occasionally treated with skepticism by others. (DW: Midnight)

At one point in his life, the Doctor temporarily changed himself into a human who used the name John Smith. There are conflicting reports as to whether this occurred in his seventh incarnation (NA: Human Nature), or in his tenth (DW: Human Nature/The Family of Blood), although the latter is more likely as the canonicity of spin-off stories are not confirmed.

Known uses of "John Smith"
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The Doctor's library card, issued to "Dr. J. Smith."

Theta Sigma

Theta Sigma (ΘΣ), informally "Thete", was a nickname used by the Doctor during his years at the Time Lord Academy on the planet Gallifrey. (DW: The Armageddon Factor, The Happiness Patrol, DWM: Flashback) The name might also have been a codename used by some aspects of Time Lord government to refer to the Doctor. (The Adventures of K-9 series) Speculations suggest the written version of the symbols Theta and Sigma together resemble the word 'who'.

Merlin and Muldwych

This was, the Doctor believed, an alias used by a future and/or alternative Doctor residing in a magic-using parallel Earth. (DW: Battlefield) This was, apparently, a future incarnation of the Doctor who, at times, also used the name Muldwych. (NA: Happy Endings) (Another account, however, says that another renegade Time Lord used the alias of Merlin. (ST: One Fateful Knight) See Merlin and Muldwych.)

Minor Aliases

First Incarnation

  • Maximus Pettulian: While visiting the Roman Empire prior to the burning of Rome, the Doctor briefly impersonated a murdered lyre player named Maximus Pettulian in the court of Nero until his true identity was uncovered. (DW: The Romans)
  • Zeus: When the Greek warrior Achilles mistook the Doctor for Zeus posing as an old man, he went along with it, until the already unconvinced Agamemnon, spoiled the Doctor's ruse. (DW: The Myth Makers)
  • Doctor Caligari: Name used by the Doctor when he arrived in Tombstone, Arizona, impersonating a magician. (DW: The Gunfighters)

Second Incarnation

Fourth Incarnation

Fifth Incarnation

  • For a year, the Doctor used the alias of "the Supremo" as leader of the Alliance against the army of the evil renegade Time Lord, Morbius. Originally, his title was that of "Supreme Controller", but the Ogrons, which he chose as his personal praetorian guard, were unable to correctly pronounce it as such and shortened it to the simpler "Supremo". (PDA: Warmonger)
For an unrelated use of the term, see the Supremo.

Sixth Incarnation

  • Doktor of TARDIS: Pseudonym used by the Doctor to move discreetly around an alternate version of the city of Rome. (MA: State of Change)

Tenth Incarnation

  • Sir Doctor of TARDIS: Aside from being knighted under this name, the Doctor also attempted to use the title when he encountered William Shakespeare, via the psychic paper, but Shakespeare's mind could not be swayed by the paper.(DW:The Shakespeare Code)
  • Spartacus: When visiting Pompeii in 79 A.D, The Doctor and Donna both used the alias 'Spartacus' (they had both said "I am Spartacus" in the manner of the 1960's Kirk Douglas epic Spartacus.). Caecilius at first thought they were a married couple, then later thought they were Brother and sister, with The Doctor and Donna simultaneously replying "really?" (DW:The Fires of Pompeii)
  • Doctor Noble: When the Doctor and Donna Noble travelled to the Ood Sphere, he used the Alias Dr. Noble this led to people confusing the Doctor and Donna for a married couple. (DW: Planet of the Ood)
  • The Time Lord Victorious: Deciding to alter history by rescuing Adelaide Brooke and two of her comrades from Bowie Base One on Mars in 2059, the Doctor became arrogant and egotistical, declaring that the laws of the Time Lords to prevent altering history no longer applied because he was the last, so he had total authority over time itself. He called himself "the Time Lord Victorious" and dismissively referred to the other survivors, Mia Bennett and Yuri Kerenski, as "little people". An indignant Adelaide shot back that "the Time Lord Victorious is wrong" and subsequently committed suicide, which largely preserved the timeline the Doctor had altered. (DW: The Waters of Mars)


Name Given By Others

The name was often unintentionally invoked when characters wished to learn who the Doctor was and what his name was: "Doctor? Doctor who?"
"Qui", "quae" and "quod" were the masculine, feminine and neutral forms of "who" in Latin.
It is possible that the latter name was what Evelina referred to when she said the Doctor's "true name...burns in the stars, in the cascade of Medusa herself". (DW: The Fires of Pompeii)
  • The Sandman: The Doctor's actions in the past of the Galyari led to his entering their race memory as a legendary monster called the Sandman. (BFA: The Sandman)
  • Rides In Night: The Doctor was known to the Pawnee Nation by the name Rides In Night. He was also known as The Brother to Coyote. (NSA: Peacemaker)
  • The Watcher: The name given to an incarnation of the Doctor partway between his fourth and fifth incarnations, before they realised his true identity. The only individual heard to utter the name was Adric. (DW: Logopolis)
See The Watcher
  • Doctor Bowman/James Alistair Bowman: Dr. Grace Holloway invented this name for the Doctor whilst introducing him to others. (DW: Doctor Who) The Doctor subsequently used this alias on occasion, filling it out to James Alistair Bowman. (EDA: Seeing I)
  • The DoctorDonna: After saying the phrase "Doctor, Donna, friends" so many times as defense against a group of rabid Ood, the Ood collective adopted this name for the two of them. Ood Sigma promised that generations of Ood children would grow up on the Ood Sphere, singing the songs of "the DoctorDonna." (DW: Planet of the Ood)
This was a foreshadowing of Donna Noble becoming the half-human/half-Time Lord being known as DoctorDonna. (DW: Journey's End)
  • "A Wanderer, The Man Without a Home, The Lonely God": Novice Hame unknowingly and quite clearly referred to The Doctor indirectly whilst explaining the legend of the Face of Boe (DW: New Earth). Describing him as a Wanderer, a clear nod towards his travelling through time and space for many years without ever truly settling down. The Man Without a Home is an obvious reference to The Doctors loss of Galifrey and consequently his own people, bar The Master. And The Lonely God, which is a now highly recognised way of describing The Doctor. One of the prime interests in this name is how it describes The Doctor as a lone deity. He is of, course, lonely because he's lost his entire race and his planet. The obvious reason for defining him as a deity is in how he "meddles" in peoples lives so deeply, this fact is the reason Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen (Disguised as Margaret Blaine) claimed he "Might as well be a god". The Doctor also claimed if a Time Lord absorbed the time vortex and used it he would become a god, immedietly clarifying he'd become a vengeful god. There are also some civilizations which believe The Doctor to be a god, and sometimes Time Lords as a whole. However The Doctor seems negligent to define himself as a god. This is most proven by the fact he refuses to go back in time to save someones life, whether this is to avoid corrupting the timeline or for a more complex reason is unknown. Additionally, Bayldon Copper once stated that "if a man could choose who lives and who dies they would become a monster". The Doctor merely glances at him, whether in agreement or whether he was merely admiring his moral constitution has never been explained.

Nicknames

  • Professor: Ace usually called the Doctor Professor as a term of endearment. She continued to use the term, even after he asked her not to use it anymore. (DW: Dragonfire)

See Also

The "Doctor Who?" running joke

Footnotes

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