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Is there any evidence that the Doctor's name was inspired by the Time Traveler's name from H.G. Well's The Time Machine? Both are time travelers who go by a title. Neither's real name is ever revealed.

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  • The time traveller does not really "go by" that name, no one in the narrative calls him that aloud and he doesn't call himself that, the narrator (who is supposed to be one of the people he invited for the demonstration at the beginning) just says at the beginning "THE TIME TRAVELLER (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us", and carries on referring to him that way throughout the narrative. I guess the implication is that the narrator doesn't want to make his name public.
    – Hypnosifl
    Oct 8, 2015 at 23:07

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No, because the character's "name" was originally going to be "Doctor Who." Ian and Barbara would have called him that regularly, since they didn't know his actual name (which was evidently not "Foreman"). However, the running gag was reduced one one reference in the second episode, and the writers just had him called "the doctor."

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    What's your source for this claim? I've read some books on the history of Doctor Who and they didn't say anything about this.
    – Hypnosifl
    Oct 8, 2015 at 23:04
  • I'll try to find the source and add it when I get a chance.
    – Buzz
    Oct 8, 2015 at 23:05

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