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What is the Doctor's real name?


Is there anywhere (in canon) where the Doctor's real name is ever revealed? I know that several people do know it or learn it at some point (like the Master, River, and Clara for example), but is it ever revealed to us?



Answer



The Doctor's name is unknown.


The true name of Doctor Who is one of the great mysteries of the series (e.g. see here).


Steven Moffat, the executive producer, has said the Doctor's real name is Mildred, but this is generally assumed to be a joke. (Rule #0: the Moffat lies.) In Series 9, the Doctor tells Osgood that his first name is Basil, but this is presumably also a joke. (Rule #1: the Doctor lies.)


In Series 10, it is claimed that his real name is Doctor Who:




BILL: So, why do you keep calling yourself Doctor Who?
MISSY: Because I'm pretending to be him. Because that's the whole point of this ridiculous exercise.
[...]
BILL: Yeah, but he's called the Doctor, so
MISSY: He says, I'm the Doctor, and they say, Doctor who? See, I'm cutting to the chase, baby. I'm streamlining. I'm saving us actual minutes.
BILL: Yeah, okay, whatever.
MISSY: Also it's his real name.
[...]
BILL: Sorry, what do you mean, it's his real name? Nobody knows the Doctor's real name.
MISSY: I do, because I grew up with him, and his real name is Doctor Who.

DOCTOR: Bill, she's just trying to wind you up.
MISSY: Chose it himself, you know, trying to sound mysterious. And then he dropped the Who when he realised it was a tiny bit on the nose.

-- S10E11 (World Enough and Time)



Again, I would assume that this isn't actually true. (Rule #2: the Master lies.) If the Doctor's name really is such an earth-shattering secret as it was made out to be in Series 6, then it would hardly be the thing everyone says as soon as they meet him. Nor would the question broadcast from Trenzalore in "The Time of the Doctor" make sense if that question was actually his real name.


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