Aliases of the Doctor

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

Throughout his travels in time and space, the Doctor took and was called by a number of different aliases, titles and names. Some of these were fleeting. Others, for example John Smith, were used by almost all of his incarnations. The Doctor told few individuals his real name, causing others to call him the Doctor.

The Doctor's real name

Ubiquity of the title

"The Doctor" was not a name, but a title. His true name was not generally known, and "the Doctor" became 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 It has been implied his given name was ceremoniously withdrawn and stricken by his Cousins, as punishment for a disgrace he visited upon his House.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)

The Doctor's real name has been said to be difficult to pronounce, for humans at least. He once told an interrogator (when asked his name): "you wouldn't be able to pronounce the first syllable of it." (PDA: Salvation)

Even when he was twice put on trial by his own people, the Time Lords, he was only referred to 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: The Trial of a Time Lord) However, as the Doctor chose that "name" as a Gallifreyan custom (DW: The Sound of Drums), its use in an official capacity is not surprising. The Doctor was able to keep his true name hidden despite numerous "mind-probe" attempts, voluntary (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace) and involuntary. (DW: The Shakespeare Code)

Individuals with knowledge of his name

When the Tenth Doctor first encountered her, River Song claimed to have known him at some point in his future. She was one of the few individuals confirmed to know his true name. In order to win the Doctor's trust, and prove her "credentials", she whispered his name in his ear. The Doctor seemed 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). Steven Moffat made a point of mentioning that he always felt the Doctor's name was never revealed only because it must have been some "terrible secret".

When asked about the Sixth Doctor's name, his companion Peri Brown once said that she had been told it, but she couldn't pronounce it. (BBCR: Slipback)

At least one other person, the Eighth Doctor's companion Samantha Jones, was also told his real name. She found it quite alien and virtually unpronounceable. (EDA: Unnatural History, Vanderdeken's Children)

When the Doctor spoke his real name aloud in the novel Vanderdeken's Children it was not written in the prose, but represented by "—" instead.

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)

True name

The Carrionite Lilith, unable to discover the Tenth 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 "hidden" from her. (DW: The Fires of Pompeii)

At one point, the Eleventh Doctor said his middle name was "Bad Penny", and added he received strange looks when filling in forms, though he might have been joking. (DW: The God Complex)

According to Dorium Maldovar after his beheading, the religious organisation the Silence had a particular interest in the Doctor's name. He explained that if the Doctor lives long enough, on the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the Eleventh, when no creature could speak falsely or fail to answer, a question that must never be answered would be asked: the first question, hidden in plain sight. The question is "Doctor Who?", implying that, for reasons unknown, the Silence wanted to prevent the Doctor from revealing his true name. (DW: The Wedding of River Song)

Significance

River Song said that the Doctor was the first to have this title. The rest of the universe later adopted it, usually to mean 'healer' or 'wise man'. In some parts of the universe (eg. the Gamma Forest), it came to mean 'mighty warrior'. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)

Though far from being a randomly chosen title, or one intended to inflate his credentials, the Doctor did possess at least one doctorate. (DW: The Moonbase, The Armageddon Factor, The Mysterious Planet) He sometimes describes himself as a "Doctor of many things" (DW: Four to Doomsday) or "everything". (DW: Utopia) Exactly what his doctorate(s) were for remain a mystery, but on several occasions the Doctor stated he was not a medical doctor. That didn't stop his second, third, tenth and eleventh incarnations from sporting a stethoscope on occasion. However the Doctor noted that he had studied medicine in the 19th century. (DW: The Moonbase) He also held a doctorate in cheese making. (DW: The God Complex)

List of aliases

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

Common aliases

The Doctor

As noted above, The Doctor itself was an alias, despite it being the title by which the Time Lord was most widely known. It has been claimed that, as a Gallifreyan custom, he chose this alias himself (DW: The Sound of Drums). It may have been a misunderstanding caused by an earlier alias. (See Names given by others.) On one occasion, a human knew this name without the Doctor saying it out loud. (NA: Cat's Cradle: Warhead) His other aliases often included the title "Doctor". He implied to Peri his given name also began with such a title. (DW: The Mysterious Planet) Drax, a fellow Time Lord, indicated the Doctor did indeed possess a doctorate (although in what was not indicated). (DW: The Armageddon Factor) According to one account, during his first incarnation, the Doctor adopted this name in dealing with human colonists on the planet Iwa at the same time that his granddaughter adopted the name "Susan". (TN: Frayed)

During his eleventh incarnation, the Doctor claimed that he didn't actually know why he and other people called him 'The Doctor'. (DW: The Lodger) This may have been in an attempt to prevent Craig from asking why they called him the Doctor. This would have been hard to explain to him.

John Smith

John Smith was an alias the Doctor would frequently use on Earth and around humans when a "standard" name was needed. It was often preceded by the title "Doctor", though not always - for example, when he was undercover as a teacher at a school or a patient in a hospital. (DW: School Reunion, Smith and Jones) The earliest known use occurred during his first incarnation, when he used a library card with the name Dr. J. Smith while living at 76 Totter's Lane (DW: The Vampires of Venice), as well as for identification when renting the junkyard. (ST: The Rag and Bone Man's Story) In his second incarnation, the name was independently used by his companion 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" was considered a generic name in some Earth cultures, the Doctor's use of the alias was occasionally treated with scepticism. (DW: Midnight)

The Doctor twice changed himself into a human who used the name John Smith. This occurred in his seventh incarnation (NA: Human Nature) and in his tenth (DW: Human Nature/The Family of Blood).

Known uses of John Smith

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The Doctor's library card, issued to "Dr. J. Smith." (DW: The Vampires of Venice)

On the First Doctor's library card while still living at 76 Totter's Lane (DW: The Vampires of Venice)
As identification when renting the junkyard from its owner, Hawkins (ST: The Rag and Bone Man's Story)
When Rebecca Nurse asked his name, realising that a simple 'Doctor' would not do (PDA: The Witch Hunters)
To check in at Ingersoll's tavern in Salem (PDA: The Witch Hunters).
Given to him by Jamie and used aboard Space Station W3. (DW: The Wheel in Space)
When questioned by a German soldier, who replies "Good. Now we are getting somewhere". (DW: The War Games)
During his exile on Earth with UNIT, when he served as its scientific advisor (DW: Spearhead from Space, The Time Warrior)
On the planet Kastopheria when asked by Admiminstrator Charteris, who reponds with "A large family, the Smiths" (PDA: Catastrophea)
"JSMITH" was the Sixth Doctor's username online. (PDA: Blue Box)
A German variation of this name, "Johann Schmidt," was used by the Sixth Doctor when he infiltrated the Third Reich to investigate the origins of the Fourth Reich that was currently active in 2001, creating fake credentials establishing him as Major-General Johann Schmidt of the Berlin Fifth Medical Corps (PDA: The Shadow in the Glass). The Seventh Doctor also used this name while impersonating a Nazi Reichsinspektor (NA: Timewyrm: Exodus), while the Eighth Doctor used it while posing as a German spy. (BFA: Storm Warning) An alternative version of the Eighth Doctor who existed in a timeline where the Nazis won World War II, also used the name. (BFA: Colditz, Klein's Story) The Eleventh Doctor took the place of a real Dr. Schmidt when his psychic paper displayed the credentials of a visitor expected at the Lexington Bank. (NSA: Borrowed Time)
A French variation, "Jean Forgeron," was used by the Fourth Doctor when met by French soldiers in the labyrinth underneath Paris. (IDW: The Forgotten)
Given to him coincidentally and serendipitously by Chang Lee on his hospital admittance forms after he was shot near the end of his seventh incarnation. (DW: Doctor Who)
Appeared as "Dr. John Smith" on a piece of psychic paper during a visit to 1941 (although he never actually used the alias on this occasion). (DW: The Empty Child)
While working undercover as a science teacher at Deffry Vale High School. (DW: School Reunion)
While posing as a patient at Royal Hope Hospital. (DW: Smith and Jones)
On both the Confederate and Union sides of the American Civil War as a guise under which the Fifth Doctor could render medical assistance, while having the freedom to search for his lost companions, Peri and Erimem. He received some local publicity under the name, after delivering the baby of the mayor of Gable, West Virginia, and was personally known to Abraham Lincoln by this name after he had saved the president's life during an assassination attempt in Richmond, Virginia. (TN: Blood and Hope)
While impersonating a health and safety officer during an investigation of Adipose Industries. (DW: Partners in Crime)
The Tenth Doctor attempted to use the alias aboard the Crusader 50 bus on the planet Midnight, but it was recognised as a false name and rejected by the panicking humans aboard. (DW: Midnight)
When "reintroducing" himself to Donna Noble after he erased her memories of him. (DW: Journey's End)
When encountering Jackson Lake, a man who, due to Infostamp exposure, believed himself to be an incarnation of the Doctor. (DW: The Next Doctor)
While posing as his Ganger counterpart as an independent name for himself. (DW: The Almost People)

Theta Sigma

Theta Sigma (ΘΣ), informally Thete, was a nickname used by the Doctor at the Time Lord Academy on Gallifrey. (DW: The Armageddon Factor, The Happiness Patrol, DWMS: Flashback) It might also have been a codename used by some branch of Time Lord government to refer to the Doctor. (The Adventures of K9 series)

River Song used the written form "ΘΣ" in a message to the Eleventh Doctor on Planet One, though the Doctor called these and other apparently Greek numbers on the cliff face "co-ordinates". (DW: The Pandorica Opens)

In an alternative timeline in which Rassilon failed to finish the Eye of Harmony before his death, the Doctor never left Gallifrey and became a commentator rather than a renegade Time Lord. He was known as Commentator Theta Sigma. (BFG: Forever)

"ΘΣ" was also a commonly-used abbreviation for "God" in Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. The capital letters Theta and Sigma together resemble the word "ΟΣ", (who), and some scribal variations in New Testament texts will have "ΟΣ" in a few passages while others have "ΘΣ" in the same passages.[1]

Minor aliases

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A list of aliases the Doctor has used in his travels.

First Doctor

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 unconvinced Agamemnon spoiled the Doctor's ruse. (DW: The Myth Makers)
Doctor Caligari: used by the First Doctor when he arrived in Tombstone, Arizona, impersonating a magician. It did not take; the locals mistook him for Doc Holliday. (DW: The Gunfighters)

Second Doctor

Doctor von Wer: The German translation of 'Doctor [of] Who.' The Second Doctor briefly used this during his visit to Scotland in 1746. He also signed a note Doctor W around this time. (DW: The Highlanders)

Third Doctor

While working for U.N.I.T the third Doctor commonly used the alias "John Smith". The John Smith Alias was subsequently referenced in numerous other stories .

Fourth Doctor

?: The Doctor signed a document with a question mark prior to the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey. (DW: The Invasion of Time) Later, the Seventh Doctor signed a document the same way during a visit to London in 1963. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)

Fifth Doctor

The Supremo: The Doctor called himself "the Supremo" while leading the alliance against the army of the renegade Time Lord Morbius. Originally, his title was "Supreme Controller", but the Ogrons of his personal guard could not pronounce it and shortened it to the simpler "Supremo". (PDA: Warmonger)

Sixth Doctor

Doktor of TARDIS: Used by the Sixth Doctor to move discreetly around an alternate version of the city of Rome. (MA: State of Change)
The Sandman: Adopted as part of a plan to stop an alien race attacking others by inspiring the idea of him as a monster. (BFA: The Sandman)

Seventh Doctor

Muldwych: This was, the Seventh Doctor believed, an alias used by a future and/or alternative Doctor in a magic-using parallel Earth. (DW: Battlefield) This was, apparently, a future incarnation of the Doctor who, at times, also used the name. (NA: Happy Endings)
Professor: This was the name Ace called The Doctor in Dragonfire though to Surival

Eighth Doctor

Doctor Bowman: Used to get close to the atomic clock in San Francisco. (DW: Doctor Who)
Gracie Witherspoon: To defeat the Threshold, the Doctor used a personal chameleon circuit to take the appearance of a female Threshold agent while Shayde masqueraded as the Doctor. (DWM: Wormwood)
Dr. Friedlander: While visiting Banquo Manor (There was a real Doctor Friedlander who hadn't arrived at the Manor; the Doctor simply assumed the name to avoid having to explain his presence). (EDA: The Banquo Legacy)
The Bringer of Darkness, the Oncoming Storm and the Evergreen Man: all epithets he offered Slake. He also gave his full, former Time Lord title as President of the High Council of the Time Lords, Keeper of the Legacy of Rassilon, Defender of the Laws of Time and Protector of Gallifrey. (EDA: Vampire Science)
Perdix: while in Rhadamanthys' court. (TN: Fallen Gods)
James Alistair Bowman: while on Ha'olam. (EDA: Seeing I)
Johnsmith8: When hunting IamI in a chat room. (ST: Lonely)

Ninth Doctor

The Oncoming Storm: an epithet the Doctor said the "legends of Skaro" call him whilst taunting the Daleks. (DW: The Parting of the Ways)
Mr. Spock: Rose introduced the Doctor as this to Capt. Jack Harkness when she was still pretending the two of them were time agents. (DW: The Empty Child)

Tenth Doctor

Doctor James McCrimmon: The Tenth Doctor briefly called himself Dr. James McCrimmon while visiting Scotland in 1879; this was the name of one of his old companions. Later, he dropped the alias and was knighted by Queen Victoria as "Sir Doctor of TARDIS". (DW: Tooth and Claw)
The Oncoming Storm: Rose Tyler called the Doctor by this name when she and Mickey Smith were captured by the clockwork droids and being prepared for dissection and was threatening them using that title. (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace )
Sir Doctor of TARDIS: After being knighted under this name, the Doctor tried to use it when he met William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's mind could not be swayed by psychic paper. (DW: The Shakespeare Code)
Doctor Vile: The Doctor briefly masqueraded as the space pirate Doctor Vile to stop a war. (DW: The Infinite Quest)
Doctor McCoy: After a discussion with Donna Noble, in which she compared the sonic screwdriver to Star Trek's tricorder, the Doctor used the alias Dr. McCoy (after Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy) when dealing with a group of soldiers. (Donna called herself Captain Kirk, after James T. Kirk). (NSA: Pest Control)
Spartacus: When visiting Pompeii in 79 A.D, the Doctor and Donna both called themselves 'Spartacus'. (DW: The Fires of Pompeii)
Chief Inspector Smith from Scotland Yard: Used when involved with the death of Professor Peach. (DW: The Unicorn and the Wasp)
Actors: When visiting Hollywood in the early 20th century, the Doctor adopted a number of Hollywood-related names whilst attending a party. Within the space of a few minutes, he called himself "Tom Cruise," "Michael Caine," "Pee-Wee Herman," and "Tom Hanks." (IDW: Silver Scream)

Eleventh Doctor

The Oncoming Storm: The Doctor called himself this such when he misinterpreted one of Craig's football mates asking for help in 'annihilating' another team. (DW: The Lodger)
Captain Troy Handsome of International Rescue: When introducing himself to a crashed time ship's avatar. (DW: The Lodger)
Commander Bond of Naval Intelligence: An alias used by the Doctor when he encountered Gein. (DWAN: Sub-species)
Caretaker: The alias used when Madge, Lily and Cyril Arwell stayed with him in a dilapidated house in Dorset.

Names given by others