Forum:Married Companions

Some, such as Jo Jones, use the married name, but others, like Evelyn Smythe, retain the original name.


 * Should we not have some consistency? TemporalSpleen talk to me 20:25, January 19, 2012 (UTC)


 * A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds -- Ralph Waldo Emerson. Boblipton talk to me 00:16, January 20, 2012 (UTC)


 * I think it just depends on what name the character uses. In Death of the Doctor, Jo was shown to have taken Cliff's last name, but Gwen and Amy are both shown to have kept their maiden names in every episode after their weddings. I don't know anything about Evelyn Smythe though, so I'm not sure whether this helps or not.Icecreamdif talk to me 03:15, January 20, 2012 (UTC)


 * Evelyn is specifically called Evelyn Rossiter in Thicker than Water, and in terms of televised companions Barbara's page still uses "Wright" TemporalSpleen talk to me 17:31, January 20, 2012 (UTC)


 * I don't think that Barbara was ever shown to have taken any other name though.Icecreamdif talk to me 19:06, January 20, 2012 (UTC)


 * Death of the Doctor: Sarah Jane refers to Ian and Barbara Chesterton. TemporalSpleen talk to me 21:08, January 20, 2012 (UTC)

Proposed rule change

 * Guys, please use colons prior to your posts in order to indent your messages. This makes the article conversation easier to read.


 * As to the current state of our rules, we do have a policy on married characters. Please consult T:CHAR NAMES.  Basically, it says that we tend to prefer later to earlier names, and that we don't automatically switch to the married name.  We are being consistent with Evelyn's name because her stories are being released out of order.  Thus the most current stories involving Evelyn have her as Evelyn Smythe.  Yes, her last story, chronologically, has her as Evelyn Rossiter, but that story was close to ten years ago. The most recently released episodes have her as Evelyn Smythe.


 * Personally, I think a better rule might be "use the name that's in the majority of stories in which the character appears". That's way easier and much less controversial. But that's not the current rule.  We can make it the current rule if you like, of course.  But, again, it's not the current rule.   07:54: Sat 21 Jan 2012


 * I'd agree, and say that the most frequently used name should be used for the title. --TemporalSpleen talk to me 09:44, January 21, 2012 (UTC)


 * yes, it should be the most frequently used names or the name the person is known by for the majority of their stories. for example, i think it makes it more confusing to have jo's page under jo jones when for the majority of televised appearances she is known as jo grant (all except for one story to be exact) and jo grant is the name most people (out of universe, of course) know her by.  Imamadmad talk to me 07:16, January 23, 2012 (UTC)


 * I feel this goes against some of the idea of our in-universe pages, writing from the 'end of the universe' perspective. So in many ways I think we should go with their later used names.
 * As, if there's clear narrative proof of their name change that should be the one we use.
 * However, I understand that for linking, logic and readability purposes there is benefit in using their most frequently used names.
 * Also a side note, that A Death in the Family was published in October 2010, chronologically that's Evelyn's last story where she uses Rossiter. --Tangerineduel / talk 13:42, January 28, 2012 (UTC)