Sunday Reflections: Doctor Who and the Importance of Naming

Ever since I was a child, I have been obsessed with the idea of nicknames.  Nicknames seem like this special secret between you and a friend, a family, or a group of people that give you both a sense of identity and a sense of belonging.  It is a powerful and sacred thing, a nickname.

In my preteen years, I watched a movie called The Watcher in the Woods.  It was a Disney film, but a scary one, about a girl named Karen who disappeared. When her spirit is trapped between worlds, she writes her name in foggy glass and it appears as Nerak, which is of course Karen backwards.  My friends decided this should be my nickname for a while, but this was not the type of nickname an 8-year-old wants.  I didn’t want to disappear in the woods and haunt, I wanted to be known for something more uniquely me.  And not associated with something fearful.

Jump forward to high school when I was “in a band” with my friend and we gave each other stage names, derived from Duran Duran songs.  We were huge Duranies.  Yes, it was a thing.  I am only moderately embarrassed to tell you that my band name was Pemar Passion, from the song Crime and Passion.  My friend, Izzy Krime.  Don’t ask.  We were Freshmen, Freshmen do silly things.  You should also note we played no instruments and I can in no way, shape or form carry a tune.  This is why no Grammy sits on my shelf.

Fast forward to this summer and my obsession with Doctor Who.  One of the things I love about Doctor Who is, believe it or not, the unique nicknames that all off the characters have . . .

The Doctor himself is Amy Pond’s Raggedy Man
Amelia Pond is The Girl Who Waited
Rory Williams is The Last Centurion
Clara is The Impossible Girl
And let us not forget Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All the cutest baby ever

The entire episode where The Doctor Who and Martha Jones meet William Shakespeare, The Shakespeare Code, is all about the power of naming.  How naming something gives you power over it: “I named her. The power of a name.  That’s old magic.”  A theme that is expounded upon beautifully by Madeleine L’Engle in the book Walking on Water, Reflections on Faith and Art.  So earlier this year the TLT staff and I had fun giving each other Doctor Who nicknames; not because we wanted power over one another, but because we have that special relationship with one another that invites nicknames.  And yes, this whole conversation really did transpire because of my love for Doctor Who.  Also yes, I am, in fact, a geek.  It’s okay, I proudly own it.

Christie is “The Ranter”

I can be sitting in my home when all of the sudden a text or an email comes in.  It is a rant from my favorite ranter ever – Christie.  She may be ranting about something she has read.  She may be ranting about something that she has just watched.  Whatever she is ranting about, they are always amusing and often insightful.  They often turn into (very toned down) blog posts.  Christie, my favorite ranter, rants because she believes in social justice, in the human spirit, and the idea that the world could be a better place if we each just keep speaking out about the things that we see that are wrong with it.  Christie has tremendous passion and I get to see every day how she uses that passion to make the world a better place one teen at a time. Also, she amuses me.

Heather is “The Queen of Tags”

Earlier this year Heather asked, “Why don’t we have a tag cloud on our page?”  The answer was simple, we had so many tags on our blog that the tag cloud took up an entire page.  It was less than helpful, the exact opposite of what a tag cloud should be.  So Heather went in and, in the spirit of true librarianship and authority control, cleaned them up.  It was a project and a half.  So she was dubbed the Queen of Tags.  She put together a list of tags we could use and humorously reminded us, “For goodness sake people – you are professionals, check your spelling.”  I’m pretty sure she meant me.  This summer I went and stayed at Heather’s home so that I could attend ALA and it was like coming home.  She’s a great companion.

Robin is “The Newbie”

Robin just joined TLT during the summer.  We are still getting to know all of her secrets and quirks.  She is like Clara, a new mystery or puzzle that we are trying to figure out.  Slowly, slowly we get to know and love her.  Robin and I share a passion for eradicating poverty in our world as we see how it affects the world around us, and the tweens and teens that we work with every day.  And she got me addicted to Tumblr.  She knows things and provides for us the school librarian perspective that we really needed around here.  You have to be careful with those quiet companions, they are fierce just when you need them to be.

Karen is “The Girl Who Waits for Posts”

As the queen of all things TLT, I am the girl who texts and emails and says, “um, you know Christie (truly, it is almost always Christie 🙂 ), I need you to write that post you said you were going to write.”  (Christie says: and then Christie says, um, I think you actually said that in your head and just assigned it to me. And didn’t tell me. Because I have a calendar. And stuff. But she writes it anyway because she’s a best fiend.) And then she will Tweet: BLOGGER ABUSE, BLOGGER ABUSE.  Sometimes she will text me or tweet me, “Ha, I wrote a post and it is done and you didn’t even have to ask me to do it so there.”  But that’s me, like Amelia Pond, sitting in front of my keyboard waiting for The Doctor to come in his Tardis and save me, but in this case The Doctor is Christie and the Tardis is a post.  Christie is my best fiend (yes, a typo turned into a nickname) and we talk to each other almost daily – usually we are having 3 convos simultaneously via text, email and Twitter.  We work in the same library system, though in different buildings.  And we do things outside of work together, like watch a lot of Doctor Who.  So even when I sit there waiting for posts, I know that like The Doctor, my co-bloggers will always come through for me in the end.  That’s just what The Doctor does. Although truth be told, sometimes you just have to go all Donna Noble on the situation and write the post yourself.

And this blog, Teen Librarian Toolbox – it is my personal Tardis.  It brought companions into my life I never knew I needed.  It has taken me on incredible journeys and I have met amazing people.  It has given me a voice and allowed me to be fierce like The Doctor and to stand up for those who need a champion.  When I chose it’s name, I knew I wanted it to be a resource to empower others like me to stand up and advocate for teens, perhaps they too could maybe be The Doctor in their own ways.  Maybe I should change the TLT color scheme to Tardis blue.

“The name you choose it’s like, like a promise you make.” from The Name of the Doctor

Sci-Fi Month is brought to you by Rinn Reads. Check out the full schedule of Sci-Fi Month posts! There are reviews, discussions, giveaways, and more!



Doctor Who Week is a joint venture between  Maria’s Melange and Teen Librarian Toolbox. We have a full week of fun posts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.  Check back every day for new posts, fun DW inspired art projects, and more.  We will have guest posts by authors Myra McEntire, Mike A. Lancaster, Leah Rae Miller and Annie Cardi.

Filed under: Doctor Who