(Untitled)

[remindmeofthe]

Spoiler-free question for Torchwood: What is up with the names RTD thinks Americans in their thirties and forties have? Rex? Vera? Esther? My GRANDMOTHER is named Esther. Does RTD think we are still in the 1950s

Comments

[bethan_b_bad]

Eh, he thinks modern Welsh women are called Gwen and teenage English girls are called Martha, so he probably just likes old-fashioned names. I think the US can handle a little misrepresentation, anyway. ;)

[remindmeofthe]

Yeah, I've always wondered about Martha (when I first heard of her, I assumed she'd be a companion from the past entirely because of her name), but I don't actually know anything about UK names. I think you're right, though - Rose and Donna are not exactly cutting-edge trendy, either.

[bethan_b_bad]

Rose is not too unusual - I went to school with two Roses, and one of my best friends is named Amy-Rose - and Donna is about accurate for someone in Catherine Tate's age group, maybe a little too nineties if anything. But no-one younger than seventy is called Gwen, and there aren't too many Newport boys called Ianto either.

[remindmeofthe]

It's almost opposite here - I wouldn't be surprised to run into a Gwen our age or older (it'd be unusual, but not weird), but a Donna under forty would be a little odd. My sixty-plus roommate is named Donna.

And it goes without saying that there are no Iantos here. I am embarrassed to admit that when I first heard chatter about the show, I thought Ianto must be an alien teammate.