Here's a question.

[neveralarch]

So, I'm working on this Doctor/Master AU, and I'm having this issue with names. The Master is easy, because he uses all the aliases ever, so I just get to play around with those and figure out one that fits. The Doctor, though, is a huge pain. John Smith is the obvious choice, which is why I'm kind of shying away from it. I tried looking at names that are associated with doctors, but I'm not happy with them. Luke is already a DW character name, and Asa and Caduceus are both a bit out there (though I do know guys named Asa). Mostly I'm just worried that picking a name will make the character seem less like the Doctor. What do you guys think? Should I just pick a name that I like and go from there? Or should I forget it and use John Smith, on the basis that everyone will know who I'm talking about?

Comments

[aralias.livejournal.com]

perhaps this would help: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Aliases_of_the_Doctor

i was going to suggest 'foreman', because most people know that's susan's name, and could theoretically therefore also be her grandfather's.

on the other hand, if there's no particular reason not to go for it, i don't entirely see the problem with john smith. except that is is boring. captain troy handsome is a great non-boring name. consider it...

[neveralarch]

Hah, I am all over that page and the corresponding page for the Master. My problem is that while I can come up with lots of good last names from there, but first names are kind of rare. I'm seeing Maximus and James, both of which could sort of work. I guess. But Foreman is a really good idea, I like it a lot better than what I had as a placeholder.

John Smith is a bit boring. But I'll be honest, the main thing is that I don't know if I can write about fencing with a main character that has the same last name as me and not eventually slide into writing in a self-insert just for added ridiculous. (So I guess I'll keep Troy Handsome as a back-up? I'm not sure if it would lower the ridiculous factor in anyone else's mind, but it would in mine.)

[aralias.livejournal.com]

but he knows nothing of the ways of fencing! so surely it would be easier to keep yourself separate, but yes, all right, i see this is a problem. fair enough. my current john smith is really called 'theodore jonathan smith' i.e. theo->theta. so there's that possibility, even though it's just one i/erin made up. i don't know what else could really sound like theta (n.b. i just started to type 'names that sound like theta' or similiar into firefox's search, and it wondered whether i meant 'names that mean master' and i was like '...not today')

also - i hope you weren't looking for help here - i typed in 'thet name' and then thought, 'thet sounds a lot like a really posh person saying 'that', so there could be lots of 'thet's my name' jokes, which reminded me of a really silly horrible histories skit about wat tyler, which you may not have see because it isn't a song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otI_QqMOLR0

here are some theta sounding-ish names: http://www.babycenter.com/babyNamerSearch.htm?startIndex=40&startsWith=The&excludeLimit=1000&includeLimit=100&search=true&origin=&batchSize=40&gender=MALE&meaning=&numberOfSyllables=0&endsWith=&simplesearch=false&includeExclude=ALL (thet, is a real name. and there are so many really classic ones that i almost want to bail out of theodore, and shift to theodric or something that would really make 'irving' look like the sensible name).

what about john foreman? although foreman is so... heavy sounding, which doesn't sound much like a fencer or like eight. ho hum. so there we go. not helpful at all.

[neveralarch]

It may be obvious that when I say 'help please' what I really mean is 'listen to me complain while I work on this in the back of mind.' But actually this is all a lot of help! Except now I want to name him Theoren. Or Theory. Why is Theory a real name? Theory Foreman. Not as heavy as John Foreman, so, improvement?

I hadn't seen that! Oh man, I hope all my quibbles about writing get answered with historical 'who's on first' parodies. Though I should mention that I have expanded from having seen all the songs to having seen all the stupid deaths as well.

[aralias.livejournal.com]

sorry, i like to help, and by help i mean 'waffle on about whatever'. it's nice that you're doing all these posts, btw. i like that.

and theory is a great name. and a very good name for the doctor! not that you should choose it, but still, pretty good.

and if you like, every time you ask anything on LJ i can try and think of a relevant horrible histories skit :) or a not that relevant one if not relevant ones exist. i tried to upload them, btw, but i don't really understand how it all works, and just gave up... that's the act of a true friend (no it isn't).

[aralias.livejournal.com]

also, can i just say - really excited for this fic :D all i want in the world is more eight/roberts (or if not all, then - a lot of), ideally in a silly strongly based in facts AU.

[neveralarch]

I feel like I am all the posts lately, in a bizarro world where that means more than once a week. So I'm glad someone likes it! And I will totally take all the help and horrible histories skits you can give me.

This fic liiiives. Or like 2500 words of it does. The only problem is that now I have to go do research - I don't know why I thought writing about something I know a lot about would mean that I could avoid doing research. Obviously it is the greatest constant to my writing. (On that note, do you know which Lucie Miller audios I should check out if I just want a crash course in the character? Or should I just listen to the first couple?)

[aralias.livejournal.com]

yay! that is a lot of fic. and lucie! lucie is excellent, but her early stories are not very good. i would suggest 'grand theft cosmos' (which refers to some things from series 1, and maybe you could listen to 'human resources first, as that's ok, but also i don't think you need to know what happens in that to like GTC). 'beast of orlok' and 'cannibalists' are also really good, and pretty stand alone.

p.s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8bqKVKtMAA (not really relevent, but the best i can do off the top of my head).

[neveralarch]

Awesome, thanks! I have tracked these down.

Aha, Bill Richmond, I know who that is. This is more relevant than you think! For in Germany, there are two types of fencing - olympic-style, which is what I do, with lots of moving and trying to dodge each other. And then there's academic fencing, where you stand pretty much completely still and slash at each other's faces. I'm not really sure why fencers still think this is a good idea - obviously we haven't moved quite as far as boxing yet.

[birdsarecalling.livejournal.com]

Which Doctor? I can see some Doctors getting more creative than others.

[neveralarch]

It's Eight. Five's hanging around in the AU as well, but for some reason his name just came together really easily. I feel like Eight would be one of the more creative Doctors, though...

[tardiscrash.livejournal.com]

I'm reading a BBC novel in which he apparently had the nickname "Snail" but that is probably the opposite of helpful.

You could play around with T.S. as initials, just a thought.

If you are going to go for something different I think you should pick something to suit the incarnation, I have a AU Five named after captain of the English cricket team in 1800s and an AU Eight who's name is an amalgam of Byron references.

But I mostly just do that to amuse myself. Jonh Smith is really fine in most cases.

[neveralarch]

Haha, I'll keep it in mind. This is all good advice, though, thank you!

[rainshaded]

In The Beiderbecke Tapes, Jill and Trevor call their son 'Firstborn' because they've never agreed on what they actually called him. Idk, but if you really don't want to pick a name, you could do something like that.

[neveralarch]

Ahah, that would be awesome, yet I feel I should actually just buck up and choose. Thanks, though!

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

I think John Smith is good because it doesn't distract from the story/character? Because, like the Doctor's real name, you can sort of ignore it without each time thinking "oh yeah that's his name" when you read it. Also, creative names are rarely a good idea, it leads to people calling their children Kal-El and Apple and Rainbow Sunshine (all real examples afaik).

[neveralarch]

That is true. I grew up with a bunch of creatively named people, so I tend to gloss over the more uncommon examples, but I know that's not true for everyone. Especially with already-named characters. Thanks!