7) Is The Doctor’s Real Name Doctor Who?
OK, so they probably shouldn’t take some time out of the jam-packed finale to answer this, but we can’t help but keep thinking over that potentially massive bombshell that Missy dropped in episode 11. Is the Doctor’s real name Doctor Who?
When she’s masquerading as the Doctor, Missy calls herself ‘Doctor Who.’ She explains to Bill that this was the original name the Doctor picked for himself but eventually dropped the “Who” because it was too on the nose. The Doctor later tells Bill that Missy is just trying to wind her up, but he then says himself – to the blue-skinned janitor – “My name’s Doctor Who.”
In real-world terms, this scene is clearly just a good-natured dig at those fans who are infuriated when non-fans mistake the name of the show for the name of the main character. Within the world of Doctor Who, though, this would kind of make a lot of sense.
There’ve been numerous references to the phrase “Doctor Who?” within the series and, in the early years of the 1960s, the Doctor was occasionally referred to as ‘Dr. Who’ by accident. Plus, the actor playing the Doctor was traditionally credited as ‘Doctor Who’ (until uber-fan David Tennant took on the role and he insisted that the credits call him by his actual name).
So, has Doctor Who actually been his name all this time? We imagine that this will never be referenced in the show again and will be left for hardcore fans to debate for decades to come, but who knows?
