Aliases of the Doctor

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Throughout their travels in time and space, the Doctor took on and was called by a number of different aliases, titles and names. Some were fleeting. Others, like John Smith, were used by almost all of their incarnations. The Doctor told few people their real name. Instead, they asked others to call them simply, the Doctor.

The Doctor's real name

As the Time Lord's true name was not generally known, "the Doctor", or "Doctor Who", became an alias and the exact reason for the Doctor to hide their true name is a complete mystery.

One account implied that their given name was ceremoniously withdrawn and stricken by their Cousins as punishment for a disgrace they brought upon their House. (PROSE: Lungbarrow)

Even when put on trial by the Time Lords, they were only referred to as "the Doctor", (TV: The War Games) although the Valeyard, a culmination of the Doctor's darker side who prosecuted the second trial, acknowledged that this was an alias. (TV: The Mysterious Planet) When the Fifth Doctor was officially inducted as Lord President, he declared that it was "out of the question" for him to be introduced by his true name, stating that he would accept being introduced as "Lord President Doctor". (AUDIO: Time in Office) Even those who had known them in childhood addressed them only as "the Doctor", such as the Master, (TV: Death in Heaven) and the Rani. (COMIC: Weapons of Past Destruction)

According to one account, during their 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) Another account implied that the Doctor's title had been chosen as a Gallifreyan custom, (TV: The Sound of Drums) and that he had been using it before he left Gallifrey. (TV: The Name of the Doctor, World Enough and Time)

The Doctor's real name has been said to be difficult to pronounce, for humans at least, (AUDIO: Slipback) and certainly for adults, (TV: Twice Upon a Time) possessing thirty eight syllables. (PROSE: Sleepy) The First Doctor once told an interrogator he "wouldn't be able to pronounce the first syllable of [his name]." (PROSE: Salvation) His seventh incarnation likewise told one of his captors that he "doubt[ed] [they]'d be able to pronounce the name [he] was originally given." (PROSE: Illegal Alien) When asked about the Doctor's name, Peri Brown once said that the Doctor had told her she would find it unpronounceable. (AUDIO: Slipback) Moments before his regeneration, however, the Twelfth Doctor stated his belief that "children [could] hear [his name]", but only when "their hearts [were] in the right place, and the stars [were] too." (TV: Twice Upon a Time)

The Doctor kept their true name hidden despite numerous "mind-probe" attempts and the effect of a truth field. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace, The Time of the Doctor) The Carrionite Lilith, unable to discover the Tenth Doctor's true name even with the "witchcraft" used by her kind, remarked that "there [was] no name," and that the Doctor was hiding it in 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)

Significance

The Eleventh Doctor told Clara Oswald that his real name was not important since he specifically chose the title of "Doctor" to take its place, saying it was "like a promise [one made]." (TV: The Name of the Doctor) This promise was; "Never cruel or cowardly. Never give up, never give in." (TV: The Day of the Doctor) Even Clara considered "the Doctor" to be his true name and the only one that mattered. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) Despite their hatred of the War Doctor's actions, (TV: The Name of the Doctor) both the tenth and eleventh incarnations admitted "[he] was the Doctor more than [any of them]." (TV: The Day of the Doctor) When Clara was forced to take on his role for him, the Twelfth Doctor told her that "goodness has nothing to do with [being a Doctor]". (TV: Flatline)

The Doctor considered abandoning his name if he felt he had to do something highly immoral. (TV: The Beast Below, Face the Raven) The War Doctor rejected the name to fight in the Time War, (TV: The Night of the Doctor) but proudly called himself the Doctor once he was given the chance to end the conflict without killing the Time Lords. (TV: The Day of the Doctor) During his final day, the Twelfth Doctor stated being "the Doctor" was being kind, even if it meant pulling a self-sacrifice to bring others a small amount of extra time to live. (TV: The Doctor Falls) The Thirteenth Doctor said that a "bit of adrenaline, dash of outrage and a hint of panic" helped her to remember she was the Doctor. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)

The Saxon Master knew of this and implied that the Doctor's title had been chosen because it meant "the man who makes people better", although he found the choice "sanctimonious" for someone who ended millions of lives and ruined many others. (TV: The Sound of Drums) River Song was aware of this contradiction in the Doctor's behaviour: she said that the Doctor was the first to have this title and that the rest of the universe later adopted it, usually to mean "healer" or "wise man". However, she added that, in some parts of the universe, such as in the Gamma Forests, it eventually came to mean "mighty warrior". (TV: A Good Man Goes to War)

According to Dorium Maldovar, 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: "Doctor Who?". The Silence wanted to stop the Doctor from revealing his true name. (TV: The Wedding of River Song)

The Doctor was at a later time forced to go to Trenzalore to rescue his friends from the Great Intelligence, which sought to gain access to the Doctor's tomb. The tomb, which was a future version of his own dying TARDIS, would open only to the Doctor's real name. The Intelligence threatened to kill Clara Oswald and the Paternoster Gang if he did not speak his name and open the tomb; the situation was resolved when the data ghost of River Song was able to silently transmit his name to the TARDIS, thus opening the door for the Great Intelligence. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)

The Doctor's real name became important during the Siege of Trenzalore, as it was the signal chosen by the Time Lords to come back to the universe, broadcasting the question "Doctor Who?" through a crack in reality, simultaneously broadcasting a Truth Field so that they could be sure that it was truly the Doctor responding to them. Despite this, when the Doctor was facing death, Clara told the Time Lords through the Crack that the only name of his that mattered was "the Doctor" and everything he stood for under that name, prompting them to give the Doctor a new regeneration cycle at the cost of closing the crack. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)

After meeting his twelfth incarnation, the First Doctor was confronted by the mysterious Testimony Foundation, who claimed that the Doctor was the "Doctor of War". Although the First Doctor initially feared this interpretation of his future, after witnessing the Twelfth Doctor's efforts to save Captain Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart, he came to conclude that the "Doctor of War" was not a man who revelled in war, but a man who sought the moments of peace that existed amid open warfare, and who would always try to find another way to end war, and to find resolution, rather than resorting to bloodshed. (TV: Twice Upon a Time)

Ubiquity of the title

The Doctor did possess at least one doctorate. (TV: The Moonbase, The Armageddon Factor, The Mysterious Planet) They sometimes described themselves as a "doctor of many things" (TV: Four to Doomsday) or of "everything", (TV: Spearhead from Space, Utopia) as well as "a scientist, an engineer, builder of things". (TV: The Aztecs) However, their knowledge was limited to anything prior to the Rassilon Era. (TV: Utopia) The Eleventh Doctor claimed that one of his doctorates was in cheesemaking, (TV: The God Complex) but only the "stinky, blue kind". (PROSE: Shroud of Sorrow)

On several occasions, the Doctor claimed they were not a medical doctor. (TV: "The Forest of Fear", "Mighty Kublai Khan") Though by their second incarnation, he had studied medicine in the 19th century, (TV: The Moonbase) although Clara recalled the Doctor telling her that he graduated in the wrong century. (TV: Death in Heaven) The Eleventh Doctor described himself as a medical doctor. (TV: The God Complex) The seventh, eleventh and twelfth incarnations displayed some medical knowledge, being able to help with minor injuries (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks, The Vampires of Venice) and tell if a person was vitamin deficient. (TV: Thin Ice) The Ninth Doctor could also diagnose patients in a hospital ward, quickly deducing they all shared the injuries of a scar on the back of their hands, collapsed chest cavities, crushed rib cages and gas masks fused into the flesh on their faces, (TV: The Empty Child) and displayed extensive knowledge on nanogenes, such as their ability to repair organic matter and restore life as a mere "quirk of matter". (TV: The Doctor Dances) The Tenth Doctor in particular proved a proficient medic, performing life-saving surgery on Laszlo, sustaining him as a Human-Pig hybrid, able to live as long as a human again. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks)

When asked by Mabli if her doctorate was in medicine, the Thirteenth Doctor described herself as having a doctorate in "medicine, science, engineering, candyfloss, Lego, philosophy, music, problems, people, [and] hope." (TV: The Tsuranga Conundrum)

Individuals with knowledge of the Doctor's name

Susan Foreman knew the Doctor's real name, and wrote it on the wrappings of a hypercube she sent to him after she had settled down on Earth. (PROSE: Ghost of Christmas Past)

The Sixth Doctor told his dance instructor, Becky, his name. (PROSE: Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing)

The Eighth Doctor's companion, Sam Jones, overheard his real name being said. She found it quite alien and virtually unpronounceable. (PROSE: Vanderdeken's Children)

When the Tenth Doctor first encountered her, River Song claimed to have known him at some point in his future, (TV: Silence in the Library) and, to prove her "credentials", she whispered his name in his ear, and apologised for having to do so. The Doctor was shocked at this, as "there [was] only one reason [he] would ever tell anyone [his] name, [and] only one time [he] could." (TV: Forest of the Dead) River indicated to Clara Oswald that she "made" the Doctor tell her his name and that "it took a lot of effort". (TV: The Name of the Doctor)

Near the end of his life, despite believing there was no one left in the universe who knew it, the Tenth Doctor encountered members of an unidentified pan-dimensional race that knew his real name. (AUDIO: The Last Voyage)

While separated from the Eleventh Doctor, Clara Oswald read his name in The History of the Time War. Though that timeline was aborted, leaving her with no memory of it, (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS) she later began to recall certain moments of the timeline, (TV: The Name of the Doctor) and claimed to know the Doctor's name when bluffing to the Cybermen about being the Doctor. (TV: Death in Heaven) Additionally, she was able to hear and see River when she said the Doctor's name to open his tomb, but the circumstances of River's saying of the Doctor's name are unknown. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)

Missy claimed to know the Doctor's real name from their time together on Gallifrey. She said it was "Doctor Who", and the Doctor had chosen it to be mysterious, but dropped the "Who" when he realised it was "too on-the-nose". The Twelfth Doctor said she was just teasing Bill Potts, but he refused to answer if it was truly his name. (TV: World Enough and Time)

Commonly used aliases

John Smith

John Smith was an alias the Doctor frequently used on Earth and around humans when a "standard" name was needed, with the Eighth Doctor noting it was "the nom de guerre [he] seem[ed] to keep ending up with". (PROSE: Alien Bodies) 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) As "John Smith" was considered a generic name in some Earth cultures, the Doctor's use of the alias was occasionally treated with scepticism. (TV: Midnight)

The First Doctor 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 & Bone Man's Story) The inspiration for the alias was John Smith of John Smith and the Common Men, with which he was familiar through Susan. (PROSE: The Witch Hunters)

In their second incarnation, the name was independently used by his companion Jamie McCrimmon while the Doctor was being treated for a concussion, as he saw it being used as a brand name on a metal container. (TV: The Wheel in Space) The Doctor himself used the alias when being interrogated by a German soldier. (TV: The War Games) Likewise, Chang Lee chose to register the name for the Seventh Doctor while he was en route to get his bullet wounds healed. (TV: Doctor Who)

The Doctor adopted the name on a semi-regular basis during their third incarnation while exiled on Earth, when he served as unpaid scientific advisor to UNIT. (TV: Spearhead from Space, Inferno, The Time Warrior) The UNIT files referred to him as "Dr. J.S.". (AUDIO: Tales from the Vault)

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

Often, the Doctor would use variations of the name, like the online handle "jsmith", jsmith8", (PROSE: Blue Box, Lonely) the French variation "Jean Forgeron", (COMIC: The Forgotten) or the German translation "Johann Schmidt". (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass; AUDIO: Storm Warning)

The Thirteenth Doctor once made use of a variant, "Jane Smith", while hiding her true identity from Martha Jones. (COMIC: A Little Help from My Friends)

Doctor Who

The name "Doctor Who" was used by or applied to the Doctor on a large number of occasions. When the First Doctor was using the name "Doctor Caligari" and someone remarked, "Doctor who?" he replied, "Yes, quite right."; (TV: The Gunfighters) similarly, when Jimmy Forbes asked "Doctor who?", another incarnation of the Doctor replied "Yes, if you like." (AUDIO: Seven Keys to Doomsday) The TARDIS-Keeper on Gallifrey also knew the Doctor as "Who". (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon)

The computer WOTAN repeatedly referred to the First Doctor as "Doctor Who". (TV: The War Machines) Both Ian Chesterton and Vicki occasionally called the Doctor "Doctor Who", (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Zarbi) as did Argon, (PROSE: Terror on Tiro) Mitzog, (PROSE: The Cloud Exiles) and Phlege. (COMIC: Mission for Duh) The Doctor's grandson John (COMIC: The Klepton Parasites) used the last name "Who". (PROSE: Beware the Trods!)

The First Doctor used the username "Dr_who" when bidding on the TARDIS, which he lost to Buchanan in a bet, on RetroAuction.com in 2006. (PROSE: The Mother Road)

The Second Doctor briefly used the name "Doktor von Wer" (literally, "Doctor [of] Who") during his visit to Scotland on 16 April 1746, (TV: The Highlanders) and he once signed a message as "Dr W." (TV: The Underwater Menace) The Zaons called him "Doctor Who". (PROSE: Daleks Invade Zaos)

Bessie's license plate during the Third Doctor's time at UNIT read WHO 1; (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians) in the Doctor's seventh incarnation it read WHO 7, (TV: Battlefield) and WHO 8 in his eighth incarnation. (PROSE: The Dying Days) Miss Hawthorne referred to the Third Doctor as "the great wizard Qui Quae Quod"; those three words all mean "who" in Latin. (TV: The Dæmons) The aged Keeper of the Files referred to the Doctor with the name "Who". (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon)

The Fourth Doctor wrote a series of children's books during his time with UNIT which were mistakenly published under the name "Doctor Who": they were intended to be "The Doctor, Who Discovers Historical Mysteries", but the publishers, due to a miscommunication, presented it as "Doctor Who Discovers Historical Mysteries". (AUDIO: The Kingmaker) A version of the Doctor in a young boy's imagination, based off a fictional depiction of the Doctor off television, claimed that she was "not allowed" to refer to herself as "Doctor Who", despite personally finding the "brilliant". (PROSE: The Terror of the Umpty Ums)

K9 occasionally made playful remarks related to the "Who" name. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend, Invasion of the Bane) Clive Finch's website called him "Doctor Who". (TV: Rose) Upon reading the Tenth Doctor's mind, Reinette remarked that "Doctor Who" was "more than just a secret". (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace) The oldest question in the universe was "Doctor Who?" (TV: The Wedding of River Song)

The Master addressed a postcard to the Third Doctor as "Dr Who". (COMIC: Fogbound) Missy later told Bill Potts that the Doctor's real name was "Doctor Who", explaining that he picked it in his childhood as an attempt to be mysterious, but that he had dropped the "Who" because it was "too on-the-nose". The Twelfth Doctor told Bill she was just trying to wind her up, but he later identified himself as "Doctor Who" to Jorj, (TV: World Enough and Time) and told Missy that the name arose from the question of "who to save", calling it "the Doctor's Who". (COMIC: The Road To...)

The version of the Doctor in the Land of Fiction was known as Dr. Who. (PROSE: Prelude Conundrum, Conundrum, Head Games) On television in the 1960s, fans referred to him as Dr. Who. (COMIC: TV Terrors)

Theta Sigma

Theta Sigma, informally "Thete" and occasionally spelt "ΘΣ", was a nickname of the Doctor at the Time Lord Academy on Gallifrey. (TV: The Armageddon Factor, The Happiness Patrol, The Pandorica Opens) It identified him uniquely amongst the Time Lords and was not to be spoken outside of the Academy. (PROSE: Falls the Shadow) Despite this, both contemporaries of the Doctor (TV: The Armageddon Factor) and the Doctor themself mentioned the name while away from the Academy and Gallifrey. According to the author of The Time Lord Letters, a historical document compiling writings by and concerning the Doctor, "Theta Sigma" was also their Academy Student Identification Code. (PROSE The Time Lord Letters)

K9 was improved by Time Lord Theta Sigma. (PROSE: K9 and the Beasts of Vega)

Theta Sigma was part of River Song's message to the Eleventh Doctor on the universe's oldest cliff-face. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)

When the Doctor's final incarnation permanently died during the first battle of the War in Heaven, his coffin had two Greek letters on it; one of these was "Sigma". (PROSE: Alien Bodies)

In an alternate 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)

Oncoming Storm

The Doctor was referred to as the "Oncoming Storm" by the Draconians, (PROSE: Love and War) himself (PROSE: Vampire Science) and in "the ancient legends of the Dalek homeworld". (TV: The Parting of the Ways) In Draconian, the title was pronounced "Karshtakavaar". (PROSE: Love and War) After being told of the title by the Ninth Doctor, (TV: The Parting of the Ways) Rose Tyler called the Tenth Doctor by the "Oncoming Storm" when she and Mickey Smith were being prepared for dissection by the Clockwork Droids. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace)

The Tenth Doctor later introduced himself as the "Oncoming Storm" to a Dalek aboard of the Wayfarer, (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks) and referred to the title when confronting a rabbit he thought was a Zygon. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

The Eleventh Doctor began calling himself the "Oncoming Storm" when he misinterpreted Sean's request to help the King's Arms football team "annihilate" another team at a match. (TV: The Lodger) He later referred to the title when the Daleks forgot him. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)

Destroyer of Worlds

As early as their second incarnation, the Doctor knew that the Daleks had also given them the epithet "Ka Faraq Gatri", (COMIC: Bringer of Darkness) which translated as "Destroyer of Worlds". (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation) or possibly, "Nice guy, if you're a biped". (PROSE: Continuity Errors) He had been awarded the name upon orchestrating the destruction of the Dalek home planet Skaro in his seventh incarnation, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) though the Daleks also used it prior to Skaro's destruction. (COMIC: Bringer of Darkness) Davros also referred to the Doctor as "the Destroyer of Worlds" after the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor destroyed the New Dalek Empire on the Crucible. (TV: Journey's End)

First Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

Other aliases

Impersonations

Nicknames

Titles and epitaphs

Second Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

Other aliases

Impersonations

Nicknames

  • Scarecrow: Spitefully used as a retort against his unkempt appearance by the Third Doctor in return for being called "fancy pants". (TV: The Five Doctors)

Titles and epitaphs

Third Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

Other aliases

Impersonations

Nicknames

  • Thedoct>Orism: The Doctor's title as interpreted by the Siccati. It could be shortened to Thedoct. (PROSE: Neptune, Sedna)
  • Fancy Pants: An insult used by the Second Doctor to get a parting shot in at his successor's appearance before the incarnations went their separate ways. (TV: The Five Doctors)

Titles and epitaphs

Fourth Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

  • A French variation, "Brigadier-General Jean Forgeron," was used by the Doctor when met by French soldiers in the labyrinth underneath Paris. (COMIC: The Forgotten)

Other aliases

Impersonations

Nicknames

Titles and epitaphs

  • The Wizard: Emily, a child in whom Leela was reborn after her death, referred to the Doctor as "the Wizard." (AUDIO: The Child)

Fifth Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

  • On Folly, the Fifth Doctor was believed to be a criminal mastermind known as Dr John Smith. (AUDIO: Doing Time)

Other aliases

  • 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)

Impersonations

Nicknames

Sixth Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

  • When infiltrating the Third Reich to investigate the origins of the Fourth Reich in 2001, he made fake credentials identifying himself as Major-General Johann Schmidt of the Berlin Fifth Medical Corps. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)

Other aliases

  • Professor Erasmus Potgeiter of Pretoria Scientific Institute (PROSE: Players)

Impersonations

Nicknames

Titles and epitaphs

Seventh Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

Other aliases

  • Jean Forgeron de Gallifrey: Used with the title of "Royal Observer from the court of Alexander". (PROSE: Sanctuary)

Impersonations

Nicknames

  • Professor: Ace called the Doctor this instead of his preferred name. (TV: Dragonfire et al.)

Titles and epitaphs

  • The Umbrella Man: After he rewrote her history, Elizabeth Klein referred to him as such given she was not aware of his identity. (AUDIO: Dominion)

Eighth Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

  • He used the German variation "Johann Schmidt" while posing as a German spy. (AUDIO: Storm Warning)
  • He introduced himself to Dal, an amnesic Dalek, as "John Smith", in order to prevent Dal's true memories being triggered by reference to his true identity. (AUDIO: Echoes of War)

Other aliases

  • Doctor Doctor: Inadvertently introduced as such when talking to Doctor Charles Roley and his staff; Sam Jones dismissed it as an amusing irony, with the Doctor explaining that this was why he preferred to just be known as "Doctor". (PROSE: The Taint)
  • Dr Jack-of-the-Moon: This was a term meaning those who concentrated on high-minded things at the expense of the normal world. It was used to refer to the Doctor (for example, on his marriage invitation) during his time on Henrietta Street. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)
  • Dr Foster: To hide his identity from Nyssa, he introduced himself as Dr Foster from the planet Gloucester, famous for its rains and huge puddles. (AUDIO: A Heart on Both Sides)

Impersonations

  • Dr Friedlander: While visiting Banquo Manor, he assumed the name of a real Doctor Friedlander who hadn't arrived at the Manor in order to avoid having to explain his presence. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy)
  • Doctor Jack Halliday: The Doctor was mistaken for the real Jack Halliday after finding his body and deciding to look in his office for clues about what happened to him. The original Halliday was not a doctor, but Charley referred to him as such and the Doctor claimed that he just didn't advertise the title to avoid giving people the wrong idea. (AUDIO: Invaders from Mars)

Nicknames

  • Tigger / Eeyore: When the Doctor is split into three, each bearing different parts of his personality, Charley Pollard gave these nicknames to the bouncy and excitable, and the surly and ruthless Doctors. (AUDIO: Caerdroia)

Titles and epitaphs

War Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

  • He also used the name when introducing himself to Coyne, as he did not wish for his Time Lord heritage to be discovered. (PROSE: Engines of War)

Other aliases

  • Stowaway: Rosata Laxter called him this repeatedly after discovering the Doctor on her ship, when she heard others refer to him by his former title, he insisted she continued calling him "Stowaway". (AUDIO: The Lady of Obsidian)

Nicknames

  • Grandad: A nickname given by the Eleventh Doctor due to the War Doctor's aged appearance. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
  • Captain Grumpy: A nickname given by the Eleventh Doctor due to the War Doctor's serious personality. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)

Titles and epitaphs

  • The Deathbringer: A title bestowed upon the Doctor by the Daleks during the Time War. (PROSE: Decoy)
  • The One Without Mercy: A title bestowed upon the Doctor by the Daleks during the Time War. (PROSE: Decoy)
  • Dalek Killer: One of the names awarded to the War Doctor by the Daleks. (PROSE: Engines of War)
  • The Great Scourge: One of the names awarded to the War Doctor by the Daleks. (PROSE: Engines of War)
  • The Living Death: One of the names awarded to the War Doctor by the Daleks. (PROSE: Engines of War)
  • The Executioner: One of the names awarded to the War Doctor by the Daleks. (PROSE: Engines of War)
  • The Doctor of War: A name that arose as part of a saying used to describe him during the Time War that was recorded by the Testimony and used by Gastron. (TV: Hell Bent, Twice Upon a Time)

Ninth Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

  • While imprisoned at Hesguard Institute, the Doctor wore a jumpsuit identifying him as "J. Smith". (COMIC: Sin-Eaters)

Other aliases

  • Doctor Table: Used while trying to get a Neanderthal out of a hospital, claiming to be an expert in a rare disease that the man was suffering from. (PROSE: Only Human)

Nicknames

  • U-boat Captain: A snide nickname given by Captain Jack, who mocked the Ninth Doctor's leather jacket, which made him look like a German officer. (TV: The Empty Child)
  • Big Ears: Mickey Smith describes the Ninth Doctor in this way, causing the latter to believe Mickey was saying he wasn't handsome. (TV: Boom Town)
  • Big Nose: The Tenth Doctor refers to this incarnation as such when questioning the Alternate Twelfth Doctor about his whereabouts. (COMIC: Four Doctors)

Titles and epitaphs

  • The Final Judgement: Title used by Addison Delamar when auctioning off the Doctor's memories. (COMIC: The Bidding War)
  • The Prophet: Called so by Father Heretika, a representative of the Church of the Evergreen Man, a race who believed the Doctor to be a messiah. (COMIC: The Bidding War)
  • The Great Exterminator: The name given to the Doctor by the Dalek Emperor whilst preparing a Delta Wave. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
  • The Great Destroyer: Another name given to the Doctor by the Dalek Emperor, whilst taunting the Doctor to use his Delta Wave. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)

Tenth Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

  • While at Eddison Manor after the murder of Professor Gerald Peach, the Tenth Doctor claimed to be Chief Inspector Smith of Scotland Yard in order to keep the police out of what he suspected to be an alien crime. (TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp)
  • The Tenth Doctor attempted to use the alias aboard the Crusader 50 bus on the planet Midnight when asked for his name, but it was recognised as a false name and rejected by the panicking humans aboard. (TV: Midnight)

Other aliases

  • Doctor Noble: The Doctor used this when investigating the Ood Industries claiming that he and Donna were from the Noble Corporation. (TV: Planet of the Ood)

Nicknames

  • Mr Conditional Clause: A nickname given by a frustrated Luke Rattigan after the Doctor said "ATMOS system" as a clapback because "ATMOS" meant "Atmospheric Omission System" and the Doctor would, according to Luke, be saying "Atmospheric Omission System system". This was because Luke earlier had said to the thought of moving to other planets "if only that was possible" and the Doctor corrected him saying "if only that were possible", saying it was a "conditional clause". (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem)
  • Baby Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor referred to this incarnation as such when fearing he would be "Scary Doctor". (COMIC: Four Doctors)
  • Dick van Dyke: Another mocking nickname given by the Eleventh Doctor, after the Tenth commented on the War Doctor's gravelly voice. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Titles and epitaphs

  • Time Lord Victorious: A title the Tenth Doctor briefly claimed after interfering with a fixed point in time and saving Adelaide Brooke from her death. When Adelaide killed herself to restore the timeline, causing several changes that the Tenth Doctor instantly saw because of what he had done, the Tenth Doctor was filled with extreme guilt and horror over what he did, quickly abandoning the "Time Lord Victorious" title. (TV: The Waters of Mars)
  • Number Ten: Used by the Eleventh Doctor when discussing his regeneration cycle with Clara Oswald. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)

Eleventh Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

Other aliases

Impersonations

Nicknames

  • Space Gandalf: When questioned by Amy as to what kind of person he's like, the Doctor answered that he was like a "Space Gandalf". (TV: Meanwhile in the TARDIS 2)
  • Ancient Amateur: The Doctor described himself as such to Craig Owens. (TV: The Lodger)
  • Bowtie me: The Tenth Doctor referred to this incarnation to his companions. (COMIC: Four Doctors)
  • Posh Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor referred to this incarnation as such when fearing he would be "Scary Doctor". (COMIC: Four Doctors)
  • Monster: Ada Gillyflower called the Doctor her "monster", after he had been rejected by Mr Sweet's poison. She kept him alive because it was strange that he survived despite "rejection", and to have her own secret. (TV: The Crimson Horror)
  • Chinny: The Tenth Doctor's nickname for the Eleventh Doctor, due to his prominent chin. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Titles and epitaphs

  • A Madman with a Box: A title Amy Pond bestows on him on their first encounter after fourteen years, which he later adopted. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
  • The Rotmeister: When he is talking to Craig Owens about the suspiciously growing rot on his ceiling, he refers to himself as the "Rotmeister" since he was an expert in rot. (TV: The Lodger)
  • 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)
  • My Thief / My Beautiful Idiot: Names given to the Doctor by the spirit of his TARDIS during their brief time together when House took over the empty shell. (TV: The Doctor's Wife)
  • 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 space squid religion. (PROSE: Space Squid)
  • Number Eleven: Clara reminding him that he has not run out of regenerations. When the Doctor reminds her of "Captain Grumpy" (the War Doctor), she calls him "Number Twelve". (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
  • The Demon: Kovarian taught the assassins she raised to kill the Doctor to refer to him as the Demon. The sound of his TARDIS was also referred to as "the Demon's roar". (AUDIO: The Furies)

Twelfth Doctor

Known uses of John Smith

Other aliases

  • The Architect: A title used to disguise his identity when arranging to rob the Bank of Karabraxos; until the heist was almost complete, he was unable to remember this thanks to the deliberate use of a memory worm. (TV: Time Heist)
  • Dr McGuiness: An alias he assumed while investigating "the Bell" experiment in 1944, but was quickly found out and mistaken for a German spy. (PROSE: The Crawling Terror)
  • Skovox Artificer: Using a voice manipulator, the Doctor was able to convince a Skovox Blitzer that he was its superior and got it to deactivate itself. (TV: The Caretaker)
  • Circe: Used by the Doctor while trying to infiltrate Missy's women-only social media chatroom. (PROSE: Girl Power!)

Impersonations

Nicknames

  • Outer Space Dad: Called so by Danny after he learned about the Doctor's identity; at the time, he had mistaken the Doctor for Clara's father. (TV: The Caretaker)
  • The Eyebrows: A nickname given to him by Missy to differentiate the twelfth incarnation from the other Doctors. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)

Titles and epitaphs

  • Doctor Mysterio: A young Grant's name for the Doctor, if he were a comic book character, which the Doctor professed a liking to. Grant used the name again after he encountered the Doctor once more as an adult. (TV: The Return of Doctor Mysterio)

Thirteenth Doctor

Known uses of Jane Smith

Other aliases

Nicknames

Titles and epitaphs

Miscellaneous

Other aliases

Nicknames

Titles and epitaphs

  • Belot'ssar: A title used by the Ice Warriors to refer to the Doctor. The name means "cold blue star" in reference to either the light on top of the TARDIS or the cold blue star he showed them to settle near after Mars became uninhabitable. The name was given to him by Lord Azylax. (PROSE: The Silent Stars Go By)

Other

Behind the scenes

The Doctor's name

  • The first edition of the behind-the-scenes book The Making of Doctor Who, published in 1972, stated that the Doctor's name was "∂³∑x²". It was later spelt as "d³ᓬx²" in the "Who is the Doctor" prologue of Marvel Premiere #57 in 1980. This has never been confirmed in any Doctor Who narrative, but these letters do appear on the plinth in the Tomb of Rassilon in The Five Doctors. They are also seen on K9's regeneration unit in Regeneration and on the cover of The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who.
    • The same first edition explained the Doctor "is never cowardly" which was expanded in the second edition to "never cruel or cowardly" and that "he never gives in, and he never gives up." These phrases were later used in the TV series as the promise the Doctor made when choosing his name.
  • Executive producer Steven Moffat jokingly said that no one can know the Doctor's name, except each successive showrunner. "We're commanded never to reveal what we have learned because then the show would have to be renamed Mildred. Oh, bugger."[2]

Invalid sources

Ordinal or cardinal

In The ArcHive Tapes, the narrator refers to the different incarnations of the Doctor as "Doctor (cardinal number)" rather than "the (ordinal number) Doctor".

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The actual signature is not seen on screen, but Sylvester McCoy's hand movement in the scene makes it clear that he signed a question mark.
  2. ↑ Doctor Who's real name is Mildred, claims Steven Moffat. NME. Retrieved on 12 April 2016.
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