Aliases of the Doctor

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Throughout his travels in time and space, the Doctor took and was called by a number of different aliases, titles and names. Some 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 It has been implied his given name was ceremoniously withdrawn and stricken by his Cousins as punishment for a disgrace he visited upon his House. (PROSE: 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." (PROSE: Salvation)

Even when he was twice put on trial by his own people, the Time Lords, he was only referred to as "the Doctor" (TV: 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. (TV: The Trial of a Time Lord) However, as the Doctor chose that "name" as a Gallifreyan custom (TV: The Sound of Drums), its use in an official capacity is not exceptional. The Doctor kept his true name hidden despite numerous "mind-probe" attempts, voluntary (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace) and involuntary. (TV: 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. 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." (TV: 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 the Doctor had told her she would find it unpronounceable. (AUDIO: Slipback)

The Eighth Doctor's companion Samantha Jones was told his real name. She found it quite alien and virtually unpronounceable. (PROSE: 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. (AUDIO: 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?" (TV: The Shakespeare Code) The psychically-gifted Evelina, who attempted to foretell the Doctor's future, remarked that his "true name" was "hidden" from her. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii)

The Eleventh Doctor once joked that his middle name was 'Bad Penny', and that he received strange looks when filling in forms. (TV: 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 lived 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?". This implied that, for reasons unknown, the Silence wanted to stop the Doctor from revealing his true name. (TV: 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'. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War) The Master implied that the Doctor's title had been chosen because it meant "the man who makes people better". (TV: The Sound of Drums)

Far from being a randomly chosen title or one intended to inflate his credentials, the Doctor did possess at least one doctorate. (TV: The Moonbase, The Armageddon Factor, The Mysterious Planet) He sometimes described himself as a "Doctor of many things" (TV: Four to Doomsday) or "everything". (TV: Utopia) Exactly what his doctorate(s) were for remain a mystery, but on several occasions the Doctor stated he was not a medical doctor. (TV: The Forest of Fear, Mighty Kublai Khan) That didn't stop his second, third, tenth and eleventh incarnations from sporting a stethoscope on occasion. (TV: The Runaway Bride, Partners in Crime, Planet of the Ood, Planet of the Dead, The Doctor's Daughter, The Lodger, etc) The Doctor did note that by his second incarnation, he had studied medicine in the 19th century. (TV: The Moonbase) He also claimed one of his doctorates was in cheese making. (TV: 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. (TV: The Sound of Drums) On one occasion, a human knew this name without the Doctor saying it out loud. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Warhead) His other aliases often included the title "Doctor". (TV: Spearhead from Space) He implied to Peri his given name also began with such a title. (TV: The Mysterious Planet) Drax, a fellow Time Lord, indicated the Doctor did indeed possess a doctorate (although in what was not indicated). (TV: 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". (PROSE: Frayed)

During his eleventh incarnation, the Doctor claimed that he didn't actually know why he and other people called him 'the Doctor'. (TV: The Lodger)

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. (TV: 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 (TV: The Vampires of Venice), as well as for identification when renting the junkyard. (PROSE: 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). (TV: 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. (TV: 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 skepticism. (TV: Midnight)

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

Known uses of John Smith
File:DocLibraryID.png
The Doctor's library card, issued to "Dr. J. Smith." (TV: The Vampires of Venice)

Theta Sigma

Theta Sigma (ΘΣ), informally Thete, was a nickname of the Doctor at the Time Lord Academy on Gallifrey. (TV: The Armageddon Factor, The Happiness Patrol, COMIC: Flashback)

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. (AUDIO: Forever)

Theta Sigma is also seen in River Song's message to the Doctor on the Universe's oldest cliff-face. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)

Minor aliases

This section's awfully stubby.

Please help by adding some more information.

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

First Doctor

Second Doctor

Third Doctor

Fourth Doctor

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". (PROSE: Warmonger)

Sixth Doctor

Seventh Doctor

Eighth Doctor

Ninth Doctor

  • Mr. Spock: Rose introduced the Doctor as this to Capt. Jack Harkness when she was still pretending the two of them were time agents. (TV: The Empty Child)
  • Hal Gryden: While on the planet Arkannis Major, the Doctor adopted the name of this fictional newscaster to broadcast a message of peace to the people of the world. (PROSE: The Stealers of Dreams)
  • The Oncoming Storm: an epithet the Doctor said the "legends of Skaro" call him whilst taunting the Daleks. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)

Tenth Doctor

Eleventh Doctor

  • Gandalf/Space Gandalf: When questioned by Amy as to what he's like, the Doctor answers that he's this. (TV: Meanwhile in the TARDIS 2) However, he may have been trying to say he was like Yoda from Star Wars, even refering to him and imitating a lightsaber.
  • The Oncoming Storm: The Doctor called himself this when he misinterpreted one of Craig's football mates asking for help in 'annihilating' another team. (TV: The Lodger) He later refered to himself as this when the Daleks forgot him. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
  • Captain Troy Hansen of International Rescue: When introducing himself to a crashed time ship's avatar. (TV: The Lodger)
  • Commander Bond of Naval Intelligence: An alias used by the Doctor when he encountered Gein. (DWAN: Sub-species)
  • The Anti-Squid: A title the Doctor put little thought into due to the lack of preparation time. Meaning of the title is that he is the Devil of the pace squid religion. (PROSE: Space squid)
  • The King of Okay: A title he gave to himself when Amy was shocked to see him alive and well, having seen his older self be shot and killed at Lake Silencio. He immediately tossed the idea aside, saying it was a "rubbish title", giving Rory his own title instead. (TV; The Impossible Astronaut)
  • Caretaker: The alias used when Madge, Lily and Cyril Arwell stayed with him in a dilapidated house in Dorset. (TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe) In the same episode, he also follows this up by saying he is either called the Caretaker or "Get off this planet." "Though," as he points out, "strictly speaking that probably isn't a name."
  • The Rotmeister: When he is talking to Craig Owens (TV: The Lodger) about the rot on his ceiling, he refers to himself as the 'Rotmeister'. 'Call me the Rotmeister,' he says, 'No, actually, don't call me that, call me the Doctor.'
  • Sherlock Holmes: used to gain entry to Dr Simeon's institute. (TV: The Snowmen)

Names given by others

A list of names other individuals have called the Doctor throughout his travels.

The name was often unintentionally invoked when characters wished to learn who the Doctor was and what his name was: "Doctor? Doctor who?" Often this is done for comic effect; see The "Doctor Who?" running joke.

First Doctor

Second Doctor

Third Doctor

Fourth Doctor

Sixth Doctor

Seventh Doctor

Eighth Doctor

Ninth Doctor

Tenth Doctor

Eleventh Doctor

Behind the scenes

  • The first edition of the behind-the-scenes book The Making of Doctor Who, published in 1972, stated that the Doctor's name was "δ³Σx²". This has never been confirmed in any Doctor Who narrative, but these letters do appear on the plinth in the Tomb of Rassilon in TV: The Five Doctors. They are also seen on K9's regeneration unit in TV: Regeneration.
  • During Comic-Con 2012 Steven Moffat, the head writer, has confirmed he knows what The Doctor's real name is, however it is unknown when it will be revealed. Rumours suggest that is what th 50th Anniversary will revolve around.

See also

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