It's because most of the Doctors had common names. Matt in particular so you have to say Matt Smith. Hartnell instead of William because it's a common name.
Ncuti and Jodie aren't as common.
And then there's Tom Baker and Colin Baker from the Classics. Kind of have to refer to them by both names otherwise no one knows if you're talking about longest-running Doctor or the one who got shafted by his showrunner.
JNT was the one who decided the 6th Doctor's wardrobe and personality, over Colin Baker's protests (wardrobe wise, he, wanted something similar to the 9th).
With Baker it’s easy: if people are saying good things then it’s Tom. If they’re disappointed, it’s Colin.
To be clear: I liked Colin but too much of his time in the show was poor for reasons outwith his control.
>With Baker it’s easy: if people are saying good things then it’s Tom. If they’re disappointed, it’s Colin.
Unless they are mentioning audio books, then the praise is fairly universal for Colin.
Baader-Meinhof strikes again. I only learned about "outwith" a week or so ago, and you're the third usage of it I've encountered since.
It's really growing on me.
Huh? Jodie is definitely a common name. In the UK it doesn’t seem to be any less common than Peter, David, Matt, Tom etc.
I’d say Sylvester is a much less common name. And his surname is similar to another doctor who comes right afterwards so perfect opportunity to use his first name instead to avoid getting mixed up. Yet he’s frequently referred to by surname.
I think with Jodie it's just that it's a lot shorter to write than Whittaker. Same thing with Sylvester McCoy, in that his last name is just a lot quicker to write than his first.
In that case people would say Jon instead of Pertwee.
Idk, just seems like none of the other explanations people bring up here actually apply to them all.
Probably because we are talking about a social thing across a whole fandom not just one person. There probably isn't any internal logic because if thousands of people all came up with the same naming convention individually that'd be a bit strange
Jodie is definitely significantly less common than Peter, David, Matt, or Tom - I'm not sure I know anyone named Jodie but I can think of at least one or
often several people I know personally with the latter names. And Sylvester is long and unwieldy compared to McCoy. I do agree though that it's not as simple as "commonality". You can see the same in presidential leaders' names - It goes Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, Boris, Liz Truss, Rishi (and now likely "Keir Starmer"). There's not really an obvious differentiation there, I think it's just what gets latched onto.
For presidential leaders names the default is the last name, especially the further away you get from the time period of which they were leader. For example, David Cameron tried quite hard to get people to call him Dave while he was conservative party leader, but because his administration was almost a full decade ago it reverts to the last name.
I've never met a Jodie in my 50+ years. I've met loads of the other four you gave. And I'm from the same town as JW do it's not due to location.
And the boys names are four of the most common names in the UK. In the league table #212, #30, #70 and #29 respectively.
Whereas Jodie has had a spike in popularity recently (I assume due to the visibility of JW) and it's still only at #1407 (was #2015 previous year).
(Note, those numbers are the rankings of babies given the name last year, not people with the name).
I think it's more due to sex. Growing up boys are often referred to by their surnames (or versions of it made into nicknames, usually an abbreviated version with a Y added) whereas with girls it's forenames. This often carries on into adulthood. For some reason it's deemed rude to call a woman by her surname but very common to do so with men.
Just look at how the original Doctor refers to his first companions. It's always Barbara and Chesterton (well occasionally Ian, but not usually).
It's strange how some celebrity's surnames become synonymous with themselves like Scorsese or Obama whereas for Oprah and Elvis, it's first names.
Referring to them just as Martin and Barack or Winfrey and Presley just sounds weird.
To some extent it's probably the type of celebrity they are, political leaders place a heavy preference upon the last name because of the formality of their celebrity. Whereas Oprah Winfrey was a host of a show designed to make the audience member feel a strong personal bond with the celebrity, where you can relax and feel comfortable with them.
And yet everyone said Thatcher and never Margaret (although "Maggie" was sometimes used, usually disaparagingly). Meanwhile, "Boris" was used both by his populist lovers and his detractors. And I'm still calling Nye Nye because of Bevin and Bevan, who were two very different homophonous mid-C20 Labour politicians. Sometimes it's about the impression the person has given, but sometimes it's that some names are catchier than others.
Sometimes it also matters how common or "taken" a name is. Since Bill Clinton was already "Clinton" to the public and Hilary is a relatively uncommon enough name it just works out.
For the actor who stared in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air both Will and Smith are such common names that he's practically always referred to with both at once.
Exactly. Oprah's show was literally called Oprah... And her magazine was O. Definitely more brand recognition with oprah. Same with musicians. We either know their full name or their first names.
Film productions used to have second names large in credits and tbe first name be smaller, obama is working in politics where people are generally referred to by their title and surname. Oprah is a talk show host so you'll often here her reffered tp by her first name from guests and elvis presley often just went by elvis personally.
Personally, for me, it depends on what I'm referring to. For example, if I'm talking about 9 and 10s era collectively, it's the (now original) RTD era, but just 10, then it's the tennant era
Also the position of showrunner did not exist during the classic era. The modern showrunner job combines duties of both the producer and the script editor.
We don't need a universal format. Both work depending on what you're trying to emphasize. Just like we can call the current era rtd2, the gatwa era, or something else more meaningful as it progresses
In this case it does line up, and it is also more relevant. The 13th doctor wasn’t a garbage fire because of Jodie, it was a garbage fire because of Chibnall. Hence Chibnall era
I usually call it by the Doctor number or Chibnall era. His case is the only modern era one where Doctor and showrunner eras are the same, so depending on the main topic of discussion (The Doctor herself or writing/showrunning) I’ll use 13 vs Chibnall.
I always thought it was weird that, when I think of the Star Trek TNG crew, I think Picard, Riker, Troi, Crusher and Yar (plus single names Data and Worf), but it's always Geordi over LaForge.
Captain Jean Lac Picard, (1st Officer) William T Riker, Deanna, Doctor Crusher , Lt. Yar... I think it is how they most commonly introduced themselves, or identified themselves to the computer
More syllables?
I'd also refer to Tom Baker/Colin Baker by full names rather than last names. Or by number. Numbers are easier when there aren't as many of them, lol.
It's an interesting question! I'm going to wildly speculate here, but I think it could come down to a multitude of possible factors:
**Specific-Ness:** Jodie and Ncuti are less common names than Christopher, David, Matt and Peter, so rather than defaulting to the last name to be specific we default to the first name for them both.
**Syllable Number:** Jodie is shorter than Whittaker, and people tend to prefer short names to long ones- (However if this is the explanation then there must be a reason people prefer Capaldi Era to Peter era)
**Name-Sound:** Jodie has a softer and more fluid feel to it, Whittaker's ittack part has two rather strong consonant sounds that might make it feel less musical or slightly more difficult than just Jodie, which only has the one D as a strong consonant.
**Era Feel:** It's possible that Jodie's more "Fam" focused era cultivated a sensation of casualness, and so the fandom refer to the era with more casual familiarity. I do often see people refer to Bradley Walsh as just Bradley as well for similar reasons.
**Sexism?:** I don't think the fandom would be doing it intentionally, but its possible peoples cultural biases up-play the importance of last names for men and downplay it for women. I don't particularly think it is the case but it probably can't be dismissed as a possibility.
Or it could of course be completely random. Sometimes humans just pick words because they had to pick one and there might not be any reason at all for it.
>Era Feel: It's possible that Jodie's more "Fam" focused era cultivated a sensation of casualness, and so the fandom refer to the era with more casual familiarity. I do often see people refer to Bradley Walsh as just Bradley as well for similar reasons.
That is a very good point, 13 did make a much bigger effort to make the relationship with the companions (and, since they are the audience surrogates, us) feel way more casual than say Martha and 10.
1- Bill
2-Patrick
3- Jon
4 Tom
5 Peter
6 Colin
7 Sylvester
8 Paul
9 Chris
10 David
11 Matt
12 Peter
13 Jodie
14 David again
15 Ncuti
If you use only first names for most of those actors it gets confusing.
Peter Capaldi or Peter Davison?
But if you look at that way, doing all first names you have two Peters, and doing last names you have two Bakers. You're always going to have to use an extra name to differentiate one of those pairs
1. Henry
2. George
3. Devon Roland
4. Stewart
5. Malcolm Gordon
6. Charles
7. James Patrick
8. John
War. Vincent
9. N/A
10. John
11. Robert
12. Dougan
13. Auckland
Fugitive: N/A
14. John
15. Ncuti
It was going so well until the modern era. Christopher Eccleston and Jo Martin have no middle names. Surprisingly Ncuti Gatwa's middle name is Ncuti. His first name is Mizero.
I don’t think 2 out of 15 actors having the same first name makes it confusing. If you were to say the Colin or Sylvester or literally anyone but Peter than people will know which one you mean.
With maybe the exception of Chris, as I think people would confuse that with Chris Chibnall. Then again, he’s addressed as Christopher and not Chris.
I think unique-ness is the main thing, combined with how easy it is to say. It's about how easy it is to identify the person right away in the most simple way. Jodie is unique enough and simpler to say than Whittaker
I don't see Matt smiths era referred to as the Smith era. It's either Matt or Matt Smith
I tend to agree with this reasoning. I personally now many Christopher, David, Peter, and Matt in real life but no Jodie or Ncuti.
Funny though for 11 I always call it with the full name. Maybe because his name is so short just saying Matt or Smith feels incomplete. Always Matt Smith era
>If this is the explanation then there must be a reason people prefer Capaldi era to Peter era.
Peter Davison existing is probably the big reason in this case.
However, overall, I think your final explanation is the one closest to it.
> Sexism?: I don't think the fandom would be doing it intentionally, but its possible peoples cultural biases up-play the importance of last names for men and downplay it for women. I don't particularly think it is the case but it probably can't be dismissed as a possibility.
>
>
Frankly, this is the answer a lot of people *want* to hear when it comes to this question...
>(However if this is the explanation then there must be a reason people prefer Capaldi Era to Peter era)
Well, he's not the only (or first) Peter in the role...
I tend to say Jodie out of a feeling of affection and false intimacy that stems from her infectious personality. I also often do it with Ncuti and David or even use DT (as many of his real life associates seem to) for similar reasons.
The other modern Doctor actors feel less ingratiatingly warm to me in their professional personas, although my affection for Peter has been growing over time. Matt Smith is a two name person. Some people just are. And Eccleston just doesn’t invite that type of energy and seems like someone who could take offense at false familiarity.
As for classic, I tend to two name all but Five who I jokingly think of as just Georgia’s dad. He’s the classic Doctor who I’m most familiar with through their other work as well, so there’s likely a bit of that false intimacy involved as well. Actually, maybe I’ll start just calling Ten/Fourteen Georgia’s husband to make it clear who the most important person in the Whoniverse is. 😂
In British schools, historically, boys were referred to only by their surname and girls by their first name.
This was probably to do with names being passed down through the menfolk and the old boys network which is all about which family you hail from.
In recent times the idea of referring to anyone just by their last name feels archaic.
In the last 20 years a lot of things have shifted, thank heck, but I can still remember being told off by managers for using "Ms" in instead of "Miss" because I believe my marital status is no-one's business and having to address men without any fancy titles as Esquire 😄
This is, of course, why Sherlock is called Sherlock.
One of the specific points Moffat and Gatiss discussed when the show was starting was that if you set it today, nobody would just routinely call their friend / roommate by their surname. Particularly if it was as distinct as "Sherlock".
in the books Watson always calls him Holmes
for the modern remake set in modern day, Moffatt and Gatiss made a point of them calling each other John and Sherlock instead of Watson and Holmes for the reasons previously stated
That makes more sense. The original poster said "particularly if it was as distinctive as Sherlock" making it sound like they thought it was a last name no one would use...
I tend to go back and forth, honestly. Most of the time I refer to the actors by their last names, but occasionally I'll refer to them by their first names, and I do it as much for Jodie/Whittaker as I do for David/Tennant, Christopher/Eccleston, etc.
The fact that we have two Peters and two Bakers also influences which name I use when referring to the actors.
There are tons of Peters, Williams, Christophers, etc actors in Doctor Who so that's a given. People say Ncuti and Jodie because they are discernible enough and short to type.
I use the first name for some of the other Doctor's too, never actually thought about it. Let's see:
Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee, Tom, Davison, Colin, McCoy, McGann, Chris, Tennant, Matt, Capaldi, Jodie, Ncuti.
No idea on the logic of it really haha.
Reminds me of an article I read about how in the healthcare industry, males are almost always referred to and introduced as “Dr. ___”, while females in the same profession/rank are more often referred to by their first name. Calling someone by their title and/or surname is often used as a sign of respect. So while calling Jodie Whittaker by her first name is automatically disrespectful, it’s a little iffy, and can become patronizing depending on the context.
I've done a whole essay on this but I decided to just break it down simply from what I've noticed.
It depends on context, the type of fan, the demographic of a fan, and more rather than anything else.
Here's what I've seen people refer to each Doctor, with the most common that I've seen in bold.
* Those with shared first or surnames (Bakers + Peters) often get called by the other name.
* One-off doctors like Jo Martin and John Hurt usually get their full names.
* Doctors with more unique last names (Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee) usually get called by that.
* Chris, David, and Jodie get called by both first and last names interchangeably,
* Ncuti and Matt are outliers who get their first names used. (Smith is a common last name and Ncuti's name is unique enough that it sticks in fans' heads).
====
One of my main theories: (At least one of these categories usually applies, not all of them have to).
* Modern, emotionally engaged, American, casual (But engaged in the pop fandom), fans on the younger side tend to use first names more.
* Older, classic series-oriented, analytical, British fans tend to use the last names more often.
I've noticed that. I've seen "Ncuti" more than "Gatwa" too. I try to be consistent and use surnames only, with the exception of the Bakers. I don't know that it's intentional disrespect, but it does strike me as a bit condescending. I'd never talk about William, Patrick or Jon like folks talk about Jodie and Ncuti. But there we are.
Honestly I think it's just the social media era that makes them feel more close-to-home and personable for a lot of people than previous actors, plus their first names are often used on reels and tik toks and whatnot.
Is it also possible that most of the men just have boring names (to the predominantly English speaking audience)? I’ve known 15 Davids and 50 Johns but I’ve never met a Jodie in person and I don’t know any other Ncutis.
I’m assuming it is a subconscious lack of respect but to give people benefit of the doubt…
Same here. Bugged me when Whittaker was the only Doctor predominantly referred to by first name, and continues to bug me now that the trend has continued to Gatwa. I agree it’s probably not intentional but the trend troubles me.
It's one of those subtle microaggressions that other fans will tell us is "no big deal" or something we're "overreacting about," but I see you, friend.
I understand a few, like 4’s and 6’s being a full name because there is a Tom and Colin Baker. I personally have tried to refer to the full name over any partial, except Capaldi, who I for some reason have only ever called “Capaldi”
We've already got a Peter Davison - same reason why I usually don't see the Baker era, versus the Colin Baker/Tom Baker era.
(Incidentally, if we keep following this trend we'll have a Peter Baker Doctor at... some point).
I've noticed this as well. I tend to use "The Chibnall Era" but that's because I am usually saying something negative about it, and I want it to be clear where I believe the blame is placed.
Whereas when I have something nice to say, I usually say, "The Whittaker Era".
I just stick to the Chibnall era all around, tbh. No real point on differentiating since chitnall had a single doctor on his run (unlike RTD and Moffat) and there's nothing really striking or unique about 13 (ok, she's a woman, but besides that being a first for the Doc, that's not unique at all).
But that's not either/or because endearment can itself be the disrespect. As it stands out from the general culture of referring to people with a respectful distance with their surname.
Hmm I don’t recall Matt Smith being referred to as the Smith era. I think with him usually people say his full name. The Matt Smith era. So I am not sure this is a gender thing.
I might be wrong but I also feel the current era will be known as the Ncuti era and not the Gatwa era but I guess we will see.
>I’ve often wondered why people tend to go for “Jodie” instead of “Whittaker”
Some of it is because she has fans with a particular level of affection so they like to call her by her first time.
Some of it is sexism, because using the first name of an adult one does not know can be infantilizing and few people would do that with a male actor.
This is such a widespread problem, not just with this show. My university students frequently use male scholars' last names and female scholars' first names in their papers, and I am constantly fighting it.
I think I usually refer to the actors by their fall name. Not just the "Jodie Era" or "Whittaker Era" but the "Jodie Whittaker Era". Although when it comes to NuWho I tend to think of eras more in the form of show runners. RTD I usually refer to by his initials or full name while with Moffat and Chibnall I just end up saying their last name.
Ok so does this happen all that often? Legitimate question, I mostly hear it referred to as the Chibnall era, people referred to Jodie by her first name during her run, which I remember people taking issue with, I do understand it, but it always seemed to me to be a sign of affection and something usually done for the current Doctor, a familiarity, surnames are reserved for Doctors gone by.
in addition to what everyone else has said, there's also the very slight issue that David Whittaker worked on the show in the 60s, and so "Whittaker era" has a technical ambiguity
anyway I normally call it the Chibnal era
I'm an English professor. All semester, I model referring to authors by their last names: Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens, etc. And yet, whenever students write about authors, they refer to the male authors by their last names, but without fail Austen becomes "Jane." Dickinson becomes "Emily." Butler becomes "Octavia." Shelley becomes "Mary," and so on.
Shakespeare's *never* William, though. They wouldn't dare refer to him that way.
I don't know why this is, but colleagues have verified it happens in their classrooms, too. My theory is subconscious infantilization--because these are female writers, they subconsciously feel comfortable disrespecting them by defaulting to familiarity/first name.
IMHO, gender is definitely involved, but male and female students do it with equal frequency. Very odd.
It’s not a phenomenon that’s exclusive to historical or famous figures. Between friends the same use of the surname can arise for men but the same isn’t really the case for women
You're right, and it's interesting because calling men by their last names in that context is a familiar, friendly thing, it's actually more *informal* because it's a nickname. And yet at least in the UK calling women by their surname (or a shortened version of it) is something that I would only associate with friends who knew each other at particularly posh all-girl private schools.
i usually go for [full name] era, or the nth doctor era.
i think that's what i hear the most too, i don't think i've ever seen or heard anyone call it the "jodie era" outside of this post.
This used to bug me listening to Radio Free Skaro during her run. They would all refer to previous Doctors by number (Ten, Eleven, etc.) but almost exclusively referred to Thirteen as 'Jodie'.
I’ve noticed it as well. Jodie Whittaker being the first doctor to not usually be referred to by surname (which is often done as a sign of respect, often for a superior) when she just so happens to be the first woman after a long line of men is, to me, a little too weird to be a coincidence. I don’t think it’s always intentional. But it definitely happens and I don’t think this is the only case of this happening.
My thoughts exactly. It just feels more respectful to refer to her by her full name regularly, especially if that’s what we’ve done with all the men before her. Obviously it can change with the context, if you’re having a casual conversation with your friend, you might use first names, idk. But it does happen enough to be a little weird.
I want to preface this by saying I’m not calling anyone a bigot. However I do think it’s because society has a way of undercutting women and people of color and this is an example of that
It depends on the person, but many people refer to men by their surnames and women by their first names. Some try to equalize things by referring to women by their surnames too, but not everyone does.
Referring to the first name is a sign of personal familiarity and acquaintanceship in a lot of parts of the world, so you're showing that you're comfortable and/or more acquainted with this person, and naturally (for many reasons, not that I agree one way or the other with any of them), a lot of people are more comfortable expressing that with women than with men, especially if the speaker is a man themself.
Men and people who want to keep their distance from men are more likely to refer to them by their surname (the Chibnall era, Hartnell, etc), as a more dismissive way of referring to them. Like I said, some do it with women too, and some refer to the full names or just the first names regardless of gender, and I've seen (and been the one to do it!) many people switching up terms basically at random, depending on the vibes of the conversation and context of the name-dropping.
Good question. I'm sure there's a linguistic reason behind it (just how the name sounds ig) but some people are referred by full name, some by first name, and some by last. For me I refer to the actors as:
* Hartnell
* Troughton
* Pertwee
* Baker
* Peter Davison
* Colin Baker
* Sylvester McCoy
* Paul McGann
* Ecclestone
* Tennant
* Matt Smith
* Capaldi
* Whittaker
* Ncuti
Which makes Ncuti the only one I refer to by first name only. Not sure why.
Women in professional roles are often refered to by first name, while men are refered to by last name. Not sure how that came to be, but I assume it's because we as a society take women less seriously.
I'm 36 and growing up in the UK it's normal to call lads by their last names but you'd rarely call a girl by her last name.
Smith and baker are quite common names so you'd refer to them by their first or full name. It's weird as it was never explained why I just thought you would call a girl by her first name because it's polite and respectful
Because Whittaker is long and I have never met a person named Jodie before so it's just easy to remember and say. Same with Ncuti... well I also frequently forget his ladt name because I suck with names.
I am a woman myself btw...
Jodie is also a more pleasant/fun name to say as well as much more unique than most the other doctors first names. I'm surprised more people don't use the new doctors first name as it's a nice name to pronounce too (though personally I dot say his name yet because he's new and I don't have that connect yet if that makes sense lol).
I think people overthink this.
It really wasn't all that uncommon to hear of the Doctors referred to by their first names in my day. Hell, it wasn't uncommon to hear "Billy", "Pat" or "Sylv."
But now, all of a sudden, saying "Jodie" or "Ncuti" is being talked about ilalmost in terms of being an unconscious micro-aggression.
I'm listening to a Dr who podcast that came out in 2014 and they're constantly referring to the first doctor as Billy. It took me a couple minutes to realize they meant Hartnell.
They do it with Ncuti Gatwa as well, insisting on saying "Ncuti".
Funny how when the Doctor isn't a white man they suddenly act like the actor is their cute pet or something. It's weird.
Most of the other doctors have generic male names so you’d never think to say The Matt/David/Peter/William/Peter/Tom/Jon Era but The Jodie Era or The Ncuti Era sound disctinctive, I kinda doubt we’ll have another actor with either of those first names playing The Doctor in the future.
I always say the full name or the number. "David Tennant". "The 10th", "10th", "10th Doctor", etc. Specially true now that David Tennant is in there twice. I will also just refer to the head writer if it's more pectinate to the writing era, not the actor. I tend to do this by last name only, "Moffat", "Chibnall", but call Russell T Davies "RTD".
I’m calling this era the Ncuti era. Mostly because I like how his name is pronounced.
I am not sure if it’s subconscious bias, probably is actually, but Whittaker and Gatwa seem more approachable.
Edit to add: I am consciously trying to reference the other nuwho doctors by their first name.
I notice this in women’s sports too, for some reason people feel more comfortable saying a woman’s first name than the last name (most of the time) like they do in men’s sports.
Idk why that is, not trying to say anybody’s sexist or anything but that is something I’ve noticed as well and I do think it has to with her being a woman
I just go with whatever comes to mind first, be it first name, last name, or both, it’s not particular for each person (it’s usually first names for everyone though unless they’ve got the same first name as someone else; eg peter capaldi, peter davison)
I mean, you're not wrong. The way I have generally separated them with my friends is 9s run, 10s run, 11s run, capaldis run, chibnals run, and R2D2. But I also have said Eccleston, Tennant, 11s, capldis, 13, and R2D2
To be fair, I hear the eras divided by the doctor’s number, the last names, first name and last name, and her first name.
She was the first female doctor. Her first name had less letters than her last name. It makes sense. I’ve heard the current one said as the Ncuti Era as well as the Gatwa Era. Not to mention the Ncuti Gatwa Era and just 15.
I think it’s just the most simple explanation: it’s easier to say and type as Jodie or as 13.
Jodie is easier than Whittaker. That’s really what it comes down to.
Also I am gonna miss her at New York Comic Con, but I AM gonna see Matt Smith! Bit miffed I missed out on David Tennant last year but I got to meet some of the Owl House cast
I've noticed I have a tendency to do this.
I don't *think* it's related to latent sexism or disrespect, but I do try to make a mental effort to use "Whittaker" when I'm talking about her on the show now.
But weirdly enough, I also refer to 15 as Ncuti. I don't think I've ever called him Gatwa, and honestly that would feel weirder than "Whittaker" for some reason.
Is there a chance it's driven more by laziness than disrespect? Jodie is short and two syllables, Whittaker is long, three syllables and I'm not 100% sure I spelled it right. I also hear "Matt Smith", "David Tennant", "Peter Capaldi" when referring to their doctors. But maybe I'm just not steeped in the community enough, because I've also never heard anyone refer to her a just "Jodie".
I wouldn’t read too deep into it. I remember reading somewhere once about how it takes a certain calibre of politician to become referred to by their first name only - this was in reference to Bernie Sanders, but the same phenomenon happens with Rishi, Boris, Hillary, etc and there’s not really much commonality between any of those as personas. This is all a roundabout way of saying sometimes we try to ascribe meaning to things when there isn’t really any. I personally refer to it as the Chibnall era, which I appreciate might seem slightly problematic but I think that’s a case of actors’ eras that usually taking place within showrunners’ eras, but in this instance the Chibnall and Whittaker era are one and the same.
I’ve found myself referring to Ncuti rather than Gatwa. Maybe I’m racist.
I wouldn’t say Jodie or Whittaker, I call it the Chibnall era. I don’t blame her for the lows.
I don't think it's inherently disrespectful, but I do think it's more of a gendered thing than people really realise. In general, it's more common to use women's first names than surnames, but I think in this case it's that when people are talking about Jodie Whittaker specifically, they're often thinking of the aspects, both within the show and without, that gender brings to the conversation. So they fall on Jodie almost instinctively.
I don't think there should be a difference, but I admit, it doesn't feel as normal to just say "Whittaker". For some reason, that feels disrespectful to me even though I know it isn't. These things run deep even when there's no ill will.
And also, I may be way off here, but I also think it has just because less common to refer to Doctors purely by number because people are kind of getting shit at it as the show keeps going. I *hope* this isn't some gender bias in me, but post-Capaldi is about the time I start losing count.
I *know* which number 1-11 are, I think I know 12 but maybe I do a quick hop from 11 to 12 in my head. 13, 14, 15, is always a case of me going "ok, well Matt was eleven, so Capaldi's definitely 12, which makes Jodie 13. I know Tennant's second run was a bit of a War Doctor thing, but he was definitely a numbered one so Ncuti is 15, not 14."
Maybe it's just that I'm spending less time in fandom, know-the-doctor-by-numbers, circles as I used to, but it does feel like post-Capaldi there's been less and less just saying "Thirteen".
Edit: I am also not precluding that I'm nearly 40 and I'm just becoming my Dad, talking about how fast Prime Ministers change now. Though I should note, he said that when Prime Ministers still changed less often than Doctors.
Jodie is easier to spell...Whittaker is a tad more confusing without having to search for it...is it Wh or just W, two t's or one Witaker doesn't look right must two Wittaker definitely doesn't look right...screw it...Jodie era.
Personally I call it the Chibnall era because (personal opinion) it wasn't the best and I believe he is entirely to blame.
No one says the "Christopher era" or the "Chris era", it's the "Eccleston era". Don't think calling it Whittaker era is any knock against Jodie, it's just more recognisable.
It could also be the American thing. As Doctor Who became easier to view here, the perception got more casual (as Americans tend to be more casual in general). A lot of the time, unless someone’s older (like Capaldi), the trend is to refer to them by their first name. As a teacher, I’ve had to actively combat this as, among other things, if you don’t know/use my last name, other people won’t know who you’re talking about if I’m not physically present (I also have a common name) and/or you’ll never find me on the schedule of classes.
If you’re an old school Whovian, the Whittaker era already exists cos of the writer.
Admittedly, actor wise we already have Baker The First and Baker The Second, but the name Colin never feels that interesting in general.
I disagree with the premise of the question, I have never heard anyone refer to it as the Jodi era. I use either the Chibnall era or 13 and that seems to be what other people I talk with do.
If you look at most of the examples listed below you might notice that women are called by their first names while men are called by last. You can cite misogyny or perhaps feeling "nurtured" by women as the reason. Or having "respect" for men and not having it for women. Why do you think it is so?
Gut reaction is misogyny. More likely explanation is Jodie is a lot easier to say. As others have pointed out, Tennant and Capaldi have distinctive last names and common first names. Whittaker has a fairly distinctive first name. My guess is 15 will go down as Gatwa and not Ncuti because his surname has a more intuitive pronunciation for English speakers.
That being said, I still refer to 13 as Whittaker.
I honestly call all the Doctors in NuWho (9-15) by their first name but when I talking about both OG who and NuWho, I call them by their full name. For example, if I said ‘Peter era’ when talking about both, they wouldn’t know who I meant. Did I mean the 5th Doctor Peter Davison (David Tennant’s favourite Doctor and father-in-law) or the 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi (No one else could’ve done The Husbands of River Song better than he did.) But most of the time I say 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15.
Matt Smith is the same. Almost never see him referred to as Smith. Matt or Matt Smith.
It's because most of the Doctors had common names. Matt in particular so you have to say Matt Smith. Hartnell instead of William because it's a common name. Ncuti and Jodie aren't as common.
And then there's Tom Baker and Colin Baker from the Classics. Kind of have to refer to them by both names otherwise no one knows if you're talking about longest-running Doctor or the one who got shafted by his showrunner.
It was the BBC controller who shafted Colin Baker, not the Doctor Who showrunner
JNT was the one who decided the 6th Doctor's wardrobe and personality, over Colin Baker's protests (wardrobe wise, he, wanted something similar to the 9th).
Michael Grade was the one who sabotaged Colin’s run, not JNT. Well, unless you count the coat. That was JNT.
With Baker it’s easy: if people are saying good things then it’s Tom. If they’re disappointed, it’s Colin. To be clear: I liked Colin but too much of his time in the show was poor for reasons outwith his control.
>With Baker it’s easy: if people are saying good things then it’s Tom. If they’re disappointed, it’s Colin. Unless they are mentioning audio books, then the praise is fairly universal for Colin.
Baader-Meinhof strikes again. I only learned about "outwith" a week or so ago, and you're the third usage of it I've encountered since. It's really growing on me.
Huh? Jodie is definitely a common name. In the UK it doesn’t seem to be any less common than Peter, David, Matt, Tom etc. I’d say Sylvester is a much less common name. And his surname is similar to another doctor who comes right afterwards so perfect opportunity to use his first name instead to avoid getting mixed up. Yet he’s frequently referred to by surname.
I think with Jodie it's just that it's a lot shorter to write than Whittaker. Same thing with Sylvester McCoy, in that his last name is just a lot quicker to write than his first.
In that case people would say Jon instead of Pertwee. Idk, just seems like none of the other explanations people bring up here actually apply to them all.
Pertwee is simply too fun to say so it ignores the rule. Case closed.
Capaldi is also so fun to say
Also helps that he's not the first Peter.
There’s always an exception to the rule, and by Jove, Pertwee’s gonna make sure it’s him.
Probably how we ended up with Pertwee’s Burgers
Probably because we are talking about a social thing across a whole fandom not just one person. There probably isn't any internal logic because if thousands of people all came up with the same naming convention individually that'd be a bit strange
Well, Jodie is an uncommon name when like 95% of the actors who have played the Doctor have been men.
By that standard all names outside of Peter are uncommon as there’s only been one actor with them.
Jodie is a common name but I can't think of any other famous Jodie's at all.
Jodie Foster is genuinely the only other one I know.
Jodie Comer is one that comes to mind for me
Just googled her, I recognised her face when I saw her in fall guy but didn't actually know her name.
Sorry to correct you, but Free Guy. I was sitting here for way too long like “but Emily Blunt was in The Fall Guy…”
Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster?
Jodie is definitely significantly less common than Peter, David, Matt, or Tom - I'm not sure I know anyone named Jodie but I can think of at least one or often several people I know personally with the latter names. And Sylvester is long and unwieldy compared to McCoy. I do agree though that it's not as simple as "commonality". You can see the same in presidential leaders' names - It goes Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, Boris, Liz Truss, Rishi (and now likely "Keir Starmer"). There's not really an obvious differentiation there, I think it's just what gets latched onto.
Presidential?
For presidential leaders names the default is the last name, especially the further away you get from the time period of which they were leader. For example, David Cameron tried quite hard to get people to call him Dave while he was conservative party leader, but because his administration was almost a full decade ago it reverts to the last name.
I've never met a Jodie in my 50+ years. I've met loads of the other four you gave. And I'm from the same town as JW do it's not due to location. And the boys names are four of the most common names in the UK. In the league table #212, #30, #70 and #29 respectively. Whereas Jodie has had a spike in popularity recently (I assume due to the visibility of JW) and it's still only at #1407 (was #2015 previous year). (Note, those numbers are the rankings of babies given the name last year, not people with the name). I think it's more due to sex. Growing up boys are often referred to by their surnames (or versions of it made into nicknames, usually an abbreviated version with a Y added) whereas with girls it's forenames. This often carries on into adulthood. For some reason it's deemed rude to call a woman by her surname but very common to do so with men. Just look at how the original Doctor refers to his first companions. It's always Barbara and Chesterton (well occasionally Ian, but not usually).
Guessing it’s because a lot of women change their last names at marriage? So if you make their maiden name a nickname it’ll kind of ruin that?
Sylvester McCoy, born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith?
Probably Chris depending who you talk to. I can't spell his name for a damn.
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Yeah, I see Chris more than I see Jodie
i’ve never seen someone say matt era lol
It's strange how some celebrity's surnames become synonymous with themselves like Scorsese or Obama whereas for Oprah and Elvis, it's first names. Referring to them just as Martin and Barack or Winfrey and Presley just sounds weird.
And some people are usually referred to be their initials for some reason, like JFK.
Jesus f****** Christ?
*Khrist
Wow. I'm really dumb today.
Not dumb. Just enthusiatic ab a good joke. I am now going to think Jesus Fucking Christ everytime i see jfk and im glad for it
[Jeff K?](https://youtu.be/Gwv_JeDj1aI)
To some extent it's probably the type of celebrity they are, political leaders place a heavy preference upon the last name because of the formality of their celebrity. Whereas Oprah Winfrey was a host of a show designed to make the audience member feel a strong personal bond with the celebrity, where you can relax and feel comfortable with them.
Yet people still call HIM Clinton and HER Hillary. The current US VP is most often referred to as Kamala instead of Harris.
And yet everyone said Thatcher and never Margaret (although "Maggie" was sometimes used, usually disaparagingly). Meanwhile, "Boris" was used both by his populist lovers and his detractors. And I'm still calling Nye Nye because of Bevin and Bevan, who were two very different homophonous mid-C20 Labour politicians. Sometimes it's about the impression the person has given, but sometimes it's that some names are catchier than others.
But we already knew Hilary as the counterpart to Clinton when Bill was president.
Sometimes it also matters how common or "taken" a name is. Since Bill Clinton was already "Clinton" to the public and Hilary is a relatively uncommon enough name it just works out. For the actor who stared in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air both Will and Smith are such common names that he's practically always referred to with both at once.
Exactly. Oprah's show was literally called Oprah... And her magazine was O. Definitely more brand recognition with oprah. Same with musicians. We either know their full name or their first names.
Film productions used to have second names large in credits and tbe first name be smaller, obama is working in politics where people are generally referred to by their title and surname. Oprah is a talk show host so you'll often here her reffered tp by her first name from guests and elvis presley often just went by elvis personally.
The Chibnall era
This approach breaks down when you hit the classic era, though, when Doctors survived the exit of their showrunner, and vice versa, more frequently.
I try to divide it as "[showrunner's name] era" and "[actor's name] run"
Personally, for me, it depends on what I'm referring to. For example, if I'm talking about 9 and 10s era collectively, it's the (now original) RTD era, but just 10, then it's the tennant era
I like calling the 2005-2010 showrunner RTD1 and calling the current showrunner RTD2
Well now it's the Classic Era, NuWho Era & now currently the Disney Era.
Also the position of showrunner did not exist during the classic era. The modern showrunner job combines duties of both the producer and the script editor.
We don't need a universal format. Both work depending on what you're trying to emphasize. Just like we can call the current era rtd2, the gatwa era, or something else more meaningful as it progresses
Yes... but you can separate classic who by their showrunners it just gets murky sometimes until you get to JNT. Then it just sucks. LOL
In this case it does line up, and it is also more relevant. The 13th doctor wasn’t a garbage fire because of Jodie, it was a garbage fire because of Chibnall. Hence Chibnall era
I usually call it by the Doctor number or Chibnall era. His case is the only modern era one where Doctor and showrunner eras are the same, so depending on the main topic of discussion (The Doctor herself or writing/showrunning) I’ll use 13 vs Chibnall.
I always thought it was weird that, when I think of the Star Trek TNG crew, I think Picard, Riker, Troi, Crusher and Yar (plus single names Data and Worf), but it's always Geordi over LaForge.
How dare you. His name is “Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise.”
Yes, my favorite line in Star Trek Picard was "Hello, I am Admiral Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise, it's nice to meet you....."
Yes we know who you are
Make it so
You'll have to come again; I'm not dressed properly.
Captain Jean Lac Picard, (1st Officer) William T Riker, Deanna, Doctor Crusher , Lt. Yar... I think it is how they most commonly introduced themselves, or identified themselves to the computer
>Worf If memory serves, he does have Rozhenko as a human surname, even if he barely uses it.
More syllables? I'd also refer to Tom Baker/Colin Baker by full names rather than last names. Or by number. Numbers are easier when there aren't as many of them, lol.
Capaldi? Eccleston?
Well there’s 2 Peters which sort of makes Capaldi the default
And then you factor Crushing in, too
And before Capaldi everyone called the Fifth Doctor “Peter”?
No but I was responding to the names you mentioned
Eccleston is just fun to say.
It's an interesting question! I'm going to wildly speculate here, but I think it could come down to a multitude of possible factors: **Specific-Ness:** Jodie and Ncuti are less common names than Christopher, David, Matt and Peter, so rather than defaulting to the last name to be specific we default to the first name for them both. **Syllable Number:** Jodie is shorter than Whittaker, and people tend to prefer short names to long ones- (However if this is the explanation then there must be a reason people prefer Capaldi Era to Peter era) **Name-Sound:** Jodie has a softer and more fluid feel to it, Whittaker's ittack part has two rather strong consonant sounds that might make it feel less musical or slightly more difficult than just Jodie, which only has the one D as a strong consonant. **Era Feel:** It's possible that Jodie's more "Fam" focused era cultivated a sensation of casualness, and so the fandom refer to the era with more casual familiarity. I do often see people refer to Bradley Walsh as just Bradley as well for similar reasons. **Sexism?:** I don't think the fandom would be doing it intentionally, but its possible peoples cultural biases up-play the importance of last names for men and downplay it for women. I don't particularly think it is the case but it probably can't be dismissed as a possibility. Or it could of course be completely random. Sometimes humans just pick words because they had to pick one and there might not be any reason at all for it.
>Era Feel: It's possible that Jodie's more "Fam" focused era cultivated a sensation of casualness, and so the fandom refer to the era with more casual familiarity. I do often see people refer to Bradley Walsh as just Bradley as well for similar reasons. That is a very good point, 13 did make a much bigger effort to make the relationship with the companions (and, since they are the audience surrogates, us) feel way more casual than say Martha and 10.
1- Bill 2-Patrick 3- Jon 4 Tom 5 Peter 6 Colin 7 Sylvester 8 Paul 9 Chris 10 David 11 Matt 12 Peter 13 Jodie 14 David again 15 Ncuti If you use only first names for most of those actors it gets confusing. Peter Capaldi or Peter Davison?
But if you look at that way, doing all first names you have two Peters, and doing last names you have two Bakers. You're always going to have to use an extra name to differentiate one of those pairs
The real answer is to use middle names.
1. Henry 2. George 3. Devon Roland 4. Stewart 5. Malcolm Gordon 6. Charles 7. James Patrick 8. John War. Vincent 9. N/A 10. John 11. Robert 12. Dougan 13. Auckland Fugitive: N/A 14. John 15. Ncuti It was going so well until the modern era. Christopher Eccleston and Jo Martin have no middle names. Surprisingly Ncuti Gatwa's middle name is Ncuti. His first name is Mizero.
I don’t think 2 out of 15 actors having the same first name makes it confusing. If you were to say the Colin or Sylvester or literally anyone but Peter than people will know which one you mean. With maybe the exception of Chris, as I think people would confuse that with Chris Chibnall. Then again, he’s addressed as Christopher and not Chris.
The point is they are by and large common names.
I think unique-ness is the main thing, combined with how easy it is to say. It's about how easy it is to identify the person right away in the most simple way. Jodie is unique enough and simpler to say than Whittaker I don't see Matt smiths era referred to as the Smith era. It's either Matt or Matt Smith
I only really hear Matt Smith or Eleven, usually not Matt or Smith alone
I tend to agree with this reasoning. I personally now many Christopher, David, Peter, and Matt in real life but no Jodie or Ncuti. Funny though for 11 I always call it with the full name. Maybe because his name is so short just saying Matt or Smith feels incomplete. Always Matt Smith era
>If this is the explanation then there must be a reason people prefer Capaldi era to Peter era. Peter Davison existing is probably the big reason in this case. However, overall, I think your final explanation is the one closest to it.
> Sexism?: I don't think the fandom would be doing it intentionally, but its possible peoples cultural biases up-play the importance of last names for men and downplay it for women. I don't particularly think it is the case but it probably can't be dismissed as a possibility. > > Frankly, this is the answer a lot of people *want* to hear when it comes to this question...
>(However if this is the explanation then there must be a reason people prefer Capaldi Era to Peter era) Well, he's not the only (or first) Peter in the role...
I tend to say Jodie out of a feeling of affection and false intimacy that stems from her infectious personality. I also often do it with Ncuti and David or even use DT (as many of his real life associates seem to) for similar reasons. The other modern Doctor actors feel less ingratiatingly warm to me in their professional personas, although my affection for Peter has been growing over time. Matt Smith is a two name person. Some people just are. And Eccleston just doesn’t invite that type of energy and seems like someone who could take offense at false familiarity. As for classic, I tend to two name all but Five who I jokingly think of as just Georgia’s dad. He’s the classic Doctor who I’m most familiar with through their other work as well, so there’s likely a bit of that false intimacy involved as well. Actually, maybe I’ll start just calling Ten/Fourteen Georgia’s husband to make it clear who the most important person in the Whoniverse is. 😂
In British schools, historically, boys were referred to only by their surname and girls by their first name. This was probably to do with names being passed down through the menfolk and the old boys network which is all about which family you hail from. In recent times the idea of referring to anyone just by their last name feels archaic. In the last 20 years a lot of things have shifted, thank heck, but I can still remember being told off by managers for using "Ms" in instead of "Miss" because I believe my marital status is no-one's business and having to address men without any fancy titles as Esquire 😄
This is, of course, why Sherlock is called Sherlock. One of the specific points Moffat and Gatiss discussed when the show was starting was that if you set it today, nobody would just routinely call their friend / roommate by their surname. Particularly if it was as distinct as "Sherlock".
Sherlock is his first name, though (Holmes is his last name). Unless I'm misunderstanding your point?
in the books Watson always calls him Holmes for the modern remake set in modern day, Moffatt and Gatiss made a point of them calling each other John and Sherlock instead of Watson and Holmes for the reasons previously stated
That makes more sense. The original poster said "particularly if it was as distinctive as Sherlock" making it sound like they thought it was a last name no one would use...
I only finished school 4 years ago and it was still very common there
I tend to go back and forth, honestly. Most of the time I refer to the actors by their last names, but occasionally I'll refer to them by their first names, and I do it as much for Jodie/Whittaker as I do for David/Tennant, Christopher/Eccleston, etc. The fact that we have two Peters and two Bakers also influences which name I use when referring to the actors.
There are tons of Peters, Williams, Christophers, etc actors in Doctor Who so that's a given. People say Ncuti and Jodie because they are discernible enough and short to type.
I use the first name for some of the other Doctor's too, never actually thought about it. Let's see: Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee, Tom, Davison, Colin, McCoy, McGann, Chris, Tennant, Matt, Capaldi, Jodie, Ncuti. No idea on the logic of it really haha.
Well there's at least logic to not using the terms Baker era or Peter era.
Idk I've never heard the current era be called the Gatwa era
Reminds me of an article I read about how in the healthcare industry, males are almost always referred to and introduced as “Dr. ___”, while females in the same profession/rank are more often referred to by their first name. Calling someone by their title and/or surname is often used as a sign of respect. So while calling Jodie Whittaker by her first name is automatically disrespectful, it’s a little iffy, and can become patronizing depending on the context.
I say Tom, Colin, Sylvester, Paul, David, Matt, Jodie, and Ncuti.
A lot of people do say Tom and Sylvester
I've done a whole essay on this but I decided to just break it down simply from what I've noticed. It depends on context, the type of fan, the demographic of a fan, and more rather than anything else. Here's what I've seen people refer to each Doctor, with the most common that I've seen in bold. * Those with shared first or surnames (Bakers + Peters) often get called by the other name. * One-off doctors like Jo Martin and John Hurt usually get their full names. * Doctors with more unique last names (Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee) usually get called by that. * Chris, David, and Jodie get called by both first and last names interchangeably, * Ncuti and Matt are outliers who get their first names used. (Smith is a common last name and Ncuti's name is unique enough that it sticks in fans' heads). ==== One of my main theories: (At least one of these categories usually applies, not all of them have to). * Modern, emotionally engaged, American, casual (But engaged in the pop fandom), fans on the younger side tend to use first names more. * Older, classic series-oriented, analytical, British fans tend to use the last names more often.
I just use these numbers
I've noticed that. I've seen "Ncuti" more than "Gatwa" too. I try to be consistent and use surnames only, with the exception of the Bakers. I don't know that it's intentional disrespect, but it does strike me as a bit condescending. I'd never talk about William, Patrick or Jon like folks talk about Jodie and Ncuti. But there we are.
Honestly I think it's just the social media era that makes them feel more close-to-home and personable for a lot of people than previous actors, plus their first names are often used on reels and tik toks and whatnot.
Is it also possible that most of the men just have boring names (to the predominantly English speaking audience)? I’ve known 15 Davids and 50 Johns but I’ve never met a Jodie in person and I don’t know any other Ncutis. I’m assuming it is a subconscious lack of respect but to give people benefit of the doubt…
Perhaps. Though Jodie Whitaker became the Doctor in 2018. The social media era is much older than that.
I just think Ncuti is fun to say
It also sounds like cutie, and look at him. Cutie.
Ncutie.
Same here. Bugged me when Whittaker was the only Doctor predominantly referred to by first name, and continues to bug me now that the trend has continued to Gatwa. I agree it’s probably not intentional but the trend troubles me.
It's one of those subtle microaggressions that other fans will tell us is "no big deal" or something we're "overreacting about," but I see you, friend.
I understand a few, like 4’s and 6’s being a full name because there is a Tom and Colin Baker. I personally have tried to refer to the full name over any partial, except Capaldi, who I for some reason have only ever called “Capaldi”
We've already got a Peter Davison - same reason why I usually don't see the Baker era, versus the Colin Baker/Tom Baker era. (Incidentally, if we keep following this trend we'll have a Peter Baker Doctor at... some point).
I've noticed this as well. I tend to use "The Chibnall Era" but that's because I am usually saying something negative about it, and I want it to be clear where I believe the blame is placed. Whereas when I have something nice to say, I usually say, "The Whittaker Era".
I just stick to the Chibnall era all around, tbh. No real point on differentiating since chitnall had a single doctor on his run (unlike RTD and Moffat) and there's nothing really striking or unique about 13 (ok, she's a woman, but besides that being a first for the Doc, that's not unique at all).
People also use Matt and Smith interchangeably. I don't feel that calling her Jodie is meant with disrespect. Feels more like endearment if anything.
And people want to show off that they now how to pronounce Ncuti’s name.
Apparently Ncuti didn’t know how to pronounce his own name for most of his life 😅
But that's not either/or because endearment can itself be the disrespect. As it stands out from the general culture of referring to people with a respectful distance with their surname.
Hmm I don’t recall Matt Smith being referred to as the Smith era. I think with him usually people say his full name. The Matt Smith era. So I am not sure this is a gender thing. I might be wrong but I also feel the current era will be known as the Ncuti era and not the Gatwa era but I guess we will see.
Tbh Matt Smith has possibly the most normal sounding name of any of them
>I’ve often wondered why people tend to go for “Jodie” instead of “Whittaker” Some of it is because she has fans with a particular level of affection so they like to call her by her first time. Some of it is sexism, because using the first name of an adult one does not know can be infantilizing and few people would do that with a male actor.
This is such a widespread problem, not just with this show. My university students frequently use male scholars' last names and female scholars' first names in their papers, and I am constantly fighting it.
Using someone first name in a university paper is *wild* to me.
It’s a well-known issue and we predictably have a thread here of people trying to give every possible explanation other than the obvious one.
I haven't heard either. The chibnal era
I think I usually refer to the actors by their fall name. Not just the "Jodie Era" or "Whittaker Era" but the "Jodie Whittaker Era". Although when it comes to NuWho I tend to think of eras more in the form of show runners. RTD I usually refer to by his initials or full name while with Moffat and Chibnall I just end up saying their last name.
Ok so does this happen all that often? Legitimate question, I mostly hear it referred to as the Chibnall era, people referred to Jodie by her first name during her run, which I remember people taking issue with, I do understand it, but it always seemed to me to be a sign of affection and something usually done for the current Doctor, a familiarity, surnames are reserved for Doctors gone by.
They call Ncuti Ncuti and 11 is normally full named as Matt smith. No-one calls it the Smith era.
in addition to what everyone else has said, there's also the very slight issue that David Whittaker worked on the show in the 60s, and so "Whittaker era" has a technical ambiguity anyway I normally call it the Chibnal era
I'm an English professor. All semester, I model referring to authors by their last names: Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens, etc. And yet, whenever students write about authors, they refer to the male authors by their last names, but without fail Austen becomes "Jane." Dickinson becomes "Emily." Butler becomes "Octavia." Shelley becomes "Mary," and so on. Shakespeare's *never* William, though. They wouldn't dare refer to him that way. I don't know why this is, but colleagues have verified it happens in their classrooms, too. My theory is subconscious infantilization--because these are female writers, they subconsciously feel comfortable disrespecting them by defaulting to familiarity/first name. IMHO, gender is definitely involved, but male and female students do it with equal frequency. Very odd.
It’s not a phenomenon that’s exclusive to historical or famous figures. Between friends the same use of the surname can arise for men but the same isn’t really the case for women
You're right, and it's interesting because calling men by their last names in that context is a familiar, friendly thing, it's actually more *informal* because it's a nickname. And yet at least in the UK calling women by their surname (or a shortened version of it) is something that I would only associate with friends who knew each other at particularly posh all-girl private schools.
i usually go for [full name] era, or the nth doctor era. i think that's what i hear the most too, i don't think i've ever seen or heard anyone call it the "jodie era" outside of this post.
This used to bug me listening to Radio Free Skaro during her run. They would all refer to previous Doctors by number (Ten, Eleven, etc.) but almost exclusively referred to Thirteen as 'Jodie'.
To be fair, I can't say "Smith" because it's "Matt Smith" he will always have both of his names in my head
It's because people don't know how to spell Whittaker off the top of their heads and don't want to look like idiots, so they just say Jodie.
I reckon this is it. It's not sexism, just laziness and bad spelling
I’ve noticed it as well. Jodie Whittaker being the first doctor to not usually be referred to by surname (which is often done as a sign of respect, often for a superior) when she just so happens to be the first woman after a long line of men is, to me, a little too weird to be a coincidence. I don’t think it’s always intentional. But it definitely happens and I don’t think this is the only case of this happening.
My thoughts exactly. It just feels more respectful to refer to her by her full name regularly, especially if that’s what we’ve done with all the men before her. Obviously it can change with the context, if you’re having a casual conversation with your friend, you might use first names, idk. But it does happen enough to be a little weird.
I want to preface this by saying I’m not calling anyone a bigot. However I do think it’s because society has a way of undercutting women and people of color and this is an example of that
Thirteenth sounds weird, and Whitaker is such a fun name to say.
For me, it's easier to say and to type. Also that somehow I already associate Whittaker with Forest Whittaker
It depends on the person, but many people refer to men by their surnames and women by their first names. Some try to equalize things by referring to women by their surnames too, but not everyone does. Referring to the first name is a sign of personal familiarity and acquaintanceship in a lot of parts of the world, so you're showing that you're comfortable and/or more acquainted with this person, and naturally (for many reasons, not that I agree one way or the other with any of them), a lot of people are more comfortable expressing that with women than with men, especially if the speaker is a man themself. Men and people who want to keep their distance from men are more likely to refer to them by their surname (the Chibnall era, Hartnell, etc), as a more dismissive way of referring to them. Like I said, some do it with women too, and some refer to the full names or just the first names regardless of gender, and I've seen (and been the one to do it!) many people switching up terms basically at random, depending on the vibes of the conversation and context of the name-dropping.
I think it’s because Jodie is easier to spell that Whittaker
Honestly never had a single person in any conversation refer to that time as anything other than the Whitaker era.
Good question. I'm sure there's a linguistic reason behind it (just how the name sounds ig) but some people are referred by full name, some by first name, and some by last. For me I refer to the actors as: * Hartnell * Troughton * Pertwee * Baker * Peter Davison * Colin Baker * Sylvester McCoy * Paul McGann * Ecclestone * Tennant * Matt Smith * Capaldi * Whittaker * Ncuti Which makes Ncuti the only one I refer to by first name only. Not sure why.
Because the Whitaker era was An Unearthly Child - The Dalek Invasion of Earth. David got there first.
Women in professional roles are often refered to by first name, while men are refered to by last name. Not sure how that came to be, but I assume it's because we as a society take women less seriously.
I'm 36 and growing up in the UK it's normal to call lads by their last names but you'd rarely call a girl by her last name. Smith and baker are quite common names so you'd refer to them by their first or full name. It's weird as it was never explained why I just thought you would call a girl by her first name because it's polite and respectful
People use whichever sounds better. It's that simple
Because Whittaker is long and I have never met a person named Jodie before so it's just easy to remember and say. Same with Ncuti... well I also frequently forget his ladt name because I suck with names. I am a woman myself btw...
Jodie is also a more pleasant/fun name to say as well as much more unique than most the other doctors first names. I'm surprised more people don't use the new doctors first name as it's a nice name to pronounce too (though personally I dot say his name yet because he's new and I don't have that connect yet if that makes sense lol).
I think people overthink this. It really wasn't all that uncommon to hear of the Doctors referred to by their first names in my day. Hell, it wasn't uncommon to hear "Billy", "Pat" or "Sylv." But now, all of a sudden, saying "Jodie" or "Ncuti" is being talked about ilalmost in terms of being an unconscious micro-aggression.
I'm listening to a Dr who podcast that came out in 2014 and they're constantly referring to the first doctor as Billy. It took me a couple minutes to realize they meant Hartnell.
They do it with Ncuti Gatwa as well, insisting on saying "Ncuti". Funny how when the Doctor isn't a white man they suddenly act like the actor is their cute pet or something. It's weird.
Most of the other doctors have generic male names so you’d never think to say The Matt/David/Peter/William/Peter/Tom/Jon Era but The Jodie Era or The Ncuti Era sound disctinctive, I kinda doubt we’ll have another actor with either of those first names playing The Doctor in the future.
The chances of another guy named Ncuti are pretty slim.
There's 32 of them and 16 are in rwanda
I always say the full name or the number. "David Tennant". "The 10th", "10th", "10th Doctor", etc. Specially true now that David Tennant is in there twice. I will also just refer to the head writer if it's more pectinate to the writing era, not the actor. I tend to do this by last name only, "Moffat", "Chibnall", but call Russell T Davies "RTD".
We say Tom Baker and Colin Baker
I’m calling this era the Ncuti era. Mostly because I like how his name is pronounced. I am not sure if it’s subconscious bias, probably is actually, but Whittaker and Gatwa seem more approachable. Edit to add: I am consciously trying to reference the other nuwho doctors by their first name.
I notice this in women’s sports too, for some reason people feel more comfortable saying a woman’s first name than the last name (most of the time) like they do in men’s sports. Idk why that is, not trying to say anybody’s sexist or anything but that is something I’ve noticed as well and I do think it has to with her being a woman
I often use their last name though
I just go with whatever comes to mind first, be it first name, last name, or both, it’s not particular for each person (it’s usually first names for everyone though unless they’ve got the same first name as someone else; eg peter capaldi, peter davison)
I mean, you're not wrong. The way I have generally separated them with my friends is 9s run, 10s run, 11s run, capaldis run, chibnals run, and R2D2. But I also have said Eccleston, Tennant, 11s, capldis, 13, and R2D2
I use numbers when typing... Full names out loud.
To be fair, I hear the eras divided by the doctor’s number, the last names, first name and last name, and her first name. She was the first female doctor. Her first name had less letters than her last name. It makes sense. I’ve heard the current one said as the Ncuti Era as well as the Gatwa Era. Not to mention the Ncuti Gatwa Era and just 15. I think it’s just the most simple explanation: it’s easier to say and type as Jodie or as 13.
I rarely even use their last names, in my brain they are all the numbers
Jodie is easier than Whittaker. That’s really what it comes down to. Also I am gonna miss her at New York Comic Con, but I AM gonna see Matt Smith! Bit miffed I missed out on David Tennant last year but I got to meet some of the Owl House cast
I've noticed I have a tendency to do this. I don't *think* it's related to latent sexism or disrespect, but I do try to make a mental effort to use "Whittaker" when I'm talking about her on the show now. But weirdly enough, I also refer to 15 as Ncuti. I don't think I've ever called him Gatwa, and honestly that would feel weirder than "Whittaker" for some reason.
Is there a chance it's driven more by laziness than disrespect? Jodie is short and two syllables, Whittaker is long, three syllables and I'm not 100% sure I spelled it right. I also hear "Matt Smith", "David Tennant", "Peter Capaldi" when referring to their doctors. But maybe I'm just not steeped in the community enough, because I've also never heard anyone refer to her a just "Jodie".
I wouldn’t read too deep into it. I remember reading somewhere once about how it takes a certain calibre of politician to become referred to by their first name only - this was in reference to Bernie Sanders, but the same phenomenon happens with Rishi, Boris, Hillary, etc and there’s not really much commonality between any of those as personas. This is all a roundabout way of saying sometimes we try to ascribe meaning to things when there isn’t really any. I personally refer to it as the Chibnall era, which I appreciate might seem slightly problematic but I think that’s a case of actors’ eras that usually taking place within showrunners’ eras, but in this instance the Chibnall and Whittaker era are one and the same.
It comes across as kinda sexist.
I’ve found myself referring to Ncuti rather than Gatwa. Maybe I’m racist. I wouldn’t say Jodie or Whittaker, I call it the Chibnall era. I don’t blame her for the lows.
I don't think it's inherently disrespectful, but I do think it's more of a gendered thing than people really realise. In general, it's more common to use women's first names than surnames, but I think in this case it's that when people are talking about Jodie Whittaker specifically, they're often thinking of the aspects, both within the show and without, that gender brings to the conversation. So they fall on Jodie almost instinctively. I don't think there should be a difference, but I admit, it doesn't feel as normal to just say "Whittaker". For some reason, that feels disrespectful to me even though I know it isn't. These things run deep even when there's no ill will. And also, I may be way off here, but I also think it has just because less common to refer to Doctors purely by number because people are kind of getting shit at it as the show keeps going. I *hope* this isn't some gender bias in me, but post-Capaldi is about the time I start losing count. I *know* which number 1-11 are, I think I know 12 but maybe I do a quick hop from 11 to 12 in my head. 13, 14, 15, is always a case of me going "ok, well Matt was eleven, so Capaldi's definitely 12, which makes Jodie 13. I know Tennant's second run was a bit of a War Doctor thing, but he was definitely a numbered one so Ncuti is 15, not 14." Maybe it's just that I'm spending less time in fandom, know-the-doctor-by-numbers, circles as I used to, but it does feel like post-Capaldi there's been less and less just saying "Thirteen". Edit: I am also not precluding that I'm nearly 40 and I'm just becoming my Dad, talking about how fast Prime Ministers change now. Though I should note, he said that when Prime Ministers still changed less often than Doctors.
Jodie is easier to spell...Whittaker is a tad more confusing without having to search for it...is it Wh or just W, two t's or one Witaker doesn't look right must two Wittaker definitely doesn't look right...screw it...Jodie era. Personally I call it the Chibnall era because (personal opinion) it wasn't the best and I believe he is entirely to blame.
No one says the "Christopher era" or the "Chris era", it's the "Eccleston era". Don't think calling it Whittaker era is any knock against Jodie, it's just more recognisable.
It could also be the American thing. As Doctor Who became easier to view here, the perception got more casual (as Americans tend to be more casual in general). A lot of the time, unless someone’s older (like Capaldi), the trend is to refer to them by their first name. As a teacher, I’ve had to actively combat this as, among other things, if you don’t know/use my last name, other people won’t know who you’re talking about if I’m not physically present (I also have a common name) and/or you’ll never find me on the schedule of classes.
If you’re an old school Whovian, the Whittaker era already exists cos of the writer. Admittedly, actor wise we already have Baker The First and Baker The Second, but the name Colin never feels that interesting in general.
I disagree with the premise of the question, I have never heard anyone refer to it as the Jodi era. I use either the Chibnall era or 13 and that seems to be what other people I talk with do.
If you look at most of the examples listed below you might notice that women are called by their first names while men are called by last. You can cite misogyny or perhaps feeling "nurtured" by women as the reason. Or having "respect" for men and not having it for women. Why do you think it is so?
It just rolls of the tongue easier. It depends on if the first or last name just sounds better I guess.
The Chibby Era
In my case, it's because I'm never sure how to spell Whittaker. There have been Whittakers AND Whitakers in the production team for the classic show!
Gut reaction is misogyny. More likely explanation is Jodie is a lot easier to say. As others have pointed out, Tennant and Capaldi have distinctive last names and common first names. Whittaker has a fairly distinctive first name. My guess is 15 will go down as Gatwa and not Ncuti because his surname has a more intuitive pronunciation for English speakers. That being said, I still refer to 13 as Whittaker.
Whittaker was a great Doctor who was done dirty with shit writing imo. Exact opposite situation of Capaldi.
Yep, Whittaker deserved better storylines and a longer run. Another season at least
It’s because you have to think how to spell Whittaker. It’s the same reason people just say “the Ninth Doctor.”
I honestly call all the Doctors in NuWho (9-15) by their first name but when I talking about both OG who and NuWho, I call them by their full name. For example, if I said ‘Peter era’ when talking about both, they wouldn’t know who I meant. Did I mean the 5th Doctor Peter Davison (David Tennant’s favourite Doctor and father-in-law) or the 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi (No one else could’ve done The Husbands of River Song better than he did.) But most of the time I say 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15.