10 Important Doctor Who Details That Are Almost Never Mentioned
1. The Nickname Of The Doctor
The question “what is the Doctor’s name?” is as old as Doctor Who itself. And while we’ll most likely never have a definitive answer, some writers have offered their own ideas about what our favourite Time Lord went by before adopting the title of “the Doctor”.
One of these that has flown under the radar is that, while we might not know the Doctor’s birth name, we do know their college nickname.
In The Armageddon Factor, the Doctor bumps into Drax (no, not that one) a fellow alumni of the Time Lord Academy who calls the Doctor “Theta Sigma”, or “Theet” for short. The Seventh Doctor later confirms this as his college nickname, and since nicknames are often shorter versions of full names, is the Doctor's real name a slightly longer variation of Theta Sigma?
Interestingly, the Doctor seems rather embarrassed about the name, and asks Drax to just call him “the Doctor.” True to his wishes, the name “Theta Sigma” has never been used again, so we’ll likely never know why the Doctor spent his university days being addressed like he was at a frat house.
There's also the weird collection of mathematical symbols that have been proposed as the Doctor's name in various non-canon sources, like Marvel Comics.
Similar symbols also appeared on a pedestal in The Five Doctors, though these don't appear to have any connection to the Doctor themselves.
"Doctor Who?" It's the one question we'll likely never know the answer to.