I can't believe I haven't noticed this before.

[WendyNotsid]

Counselor Troi's name is really close to the superhero Donna Troy from DC comics (Former Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman's sister). Deanna Troi, Donna Troy.

Does anyone know if that's where they got Troi's name from or is it just a really big coincidence?

 

[NX-01]

Counselor Troi's name is really close to the superhero Donna Troy from DC comics (Former Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman's sister). Deanna Troi, Donna Troy.

Does anyone know if that's where they got Troi's name from or is it just a really big coincidence?

I've never noticed that before either. I can't answer your question, probably a big coincidence.

 

[WendyNotsid]

It's just so weird! I mean, Donna Troy first appeared in 1965, so it's pretty possible. It just struck me because I am literally in the middle of re-reading Gail Simone's run of Wonder Woman. Sirtis and Crosby both said that they wanted Troi to look "exotic" and Donna Troy was an Amazon, after all..... Though you'd think they make that character head of security instead of Tasha Yar....

And Donna Troi definitely wasn't afraid to show a good deal of boobage.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Wonder Girl was dark haired and usually in a catsuit....

 

[The Mole]

I suppose it is possible. Literature often feeds off real life or other forms of literature. I guess the only people that know for sure are the original writers of TNG. If they did take ideas from DC, then they should take from Marvel too in the next film and have a Hulk like character. lol

 

[WendyNotsid]

Deanna Troi Action Figure:

Donna Troy Action figure:

 

[Christopher]

I always figured Deanna Troi was named in honor of Helen of Troy, the archetype of great beauty (like "Elaan of Troyius" before her). I wouldn't be surprised if Donna Troy was named for the same reason. So it would be a case of both names being independently influenced by the same thing, rather than one being based directly on the other.

And yes, the characters happen to resemble each other, but that wasn't planned. Remember, they were originally considering Denise Crosby for Troi and Marina Sirtis for the security chief, but finally decided to switch them. So it's not like they were specifically intending Troi to be a long-haired brunette.

TNG was created by Gene Roddenberry, David Gerrold, D. C. Fontana, and Bob Justman (although Roddenberry hogged all the screen credit). I'm not aware of any of those four being comic-book fans. And Donna Troy/Wonder Girl is a pretty obscure character outside of comics. Her only film or television appearances were in three episodes of a 1967 Saturday morning cartoon, and I'd be surprised if they used her real name there rather than just calling her Wonder Girl.

It's also worth noting that TV producers generally try to avoid naming their characters too similarly to other fictional characters or prominent real people, for fear of legal complications. Thus, I'd say that as a general rule, if two fictional characters have similar names, that actually suggests that the creators of the later character didn't know about the earlier one.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I always figured Deanna Troi was named in honor of Helen of Troy, the archetype of great beauty (like "Elaan of Troyius" before her). I wouldn't be surprised if Donna Troy was named for the same reason.

Yep, and the casting search guidelines went out for "willowy, blonde, possibly Nordic types", IIRC, which is how Denise Crosby was sent to audition for Troi.

Security Officer Macha Hernandez (who was renamed Tasha Yar to suit Crosby after the switch of actresses) required shorter, muscly, dark-haired "Jeanette Goldstein types", if they couldn't secure Jeanette Goldstein herself, of course.

 

[Christopher]

Interesting that they asked for willowy blondes. The original writers' bible suggested that Troi was "probably foreign (anywhere from Italian, Greek, Hungarian, Russian, Icelandic, etc.)."

 

[Eleanor_zhDarjel]

Nice one.

 

[WendyNotsid]

I always figured Deanna Troi was named in honor of Helen of Troy, the archetype of great beauty (like "Elaan of Troyius" before her). I wouldn't be surprised if Donna Troy was named for the same reason. So it would be a case of both names being independently influenced by the same thing, rather than one being based directly on the other.

And yes, the characters happen to resemble each other, but that wasn't planned. Remember, they were originally considering Denise Crosby for Troi and Marina Sirtis for the security chief, but finally decided to switch them. So it's not like they were specifically intending Troi to be a long-haired brunette.

TNG was created by Gene Roddenberry, David Gerrold, D. C. Fontana, and Bob Justman (although Roddenberry hogged all the screen credit). I'm not aware of any of those four being comic-book fans. And Donna Troy/Wonder Girl is a pretty obscure character outside of comics. Her only film or television appearances were in three episodes of a 1967 Saturday morning cartoon, and I'd be surprised if they used her real name there rather than just calling her Wonder Girl.

It's also worth noting that TV producers generally try to avoid naming their characters too similarly to other fictional characters or prominent real people, for fear of legal complications. Thus, I'd say that as a general rule, if two fictional characters have similar names, that actually suggests that the creators of the later character didn't know about the earlier one.

I always did figure Donna Troy was named for Troy and the "Donna" part was supposed to sound like "Diana."

Wonder Girl did appear on the old Lynda Carter show a few times, but she was called "Drusilla." (Why, I have absolutely no idea as Donna Troy first appeared well before the show's run)

I'm kind of descending into a deep it of wonder-woman-geekiness.

According to IMDB, Gerrold did write an episode of "The Adventures of Superboy". But I guess that really doesn't say much. Lots of people know about Superman while popular consciousness hasn't exactly been kind to Wonder Woman.

It would have been really cool if they had, though.

What's funny is I just looked Donna Troy up on wikipedia and at the top it has a redirect link for Deanna Troi.

 

[Christopher]

What's funny is I just looked Donna Troy up on wikipedia and at the top it has a redirect link for Deanna Troi.

People can misspell things all sorts of ways, and I can easily imagine people mishearing "Deanna" as "Donna" and assuming that "Troi" is spelled in a more conventional way.