Talk:Number one

Page move and back...
This page was moved by an anonymous user first to a title containing a typo, then from there to number one (nickname). I deleted the typo, fixed the double redirect and wanted to follow up on that with a comment later, but now the article is back here. The question is: does it really belong here? Discuss! ;) -- Cid Highwind 15:26, 25 Nov 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) If "number one" is a nickname (or even informal title) shouldn't it be capitalized, as in "Number One"?
 * 2) Even if "number one" is the correct spelling, do we really want to have different articles to have titles that only differ in their capitalization (see also Talk:First Contact). I think that is just misleading, especially combined with possible "miscapitalizations" resulting from question (1).
 * 3) If we decide to use a qualifier, should it really be the nickname that gets it? Or should it be the person only appearing in one episode that gets disambiguated? Or, if we're in doubt, should it be both?


 * Ohh... okay, that makes sense. I completely didn't think about Number One. Having articles differentiated only by capitalization would be confusing (for lack of a better term -- I just woke up), and I believe words rather than actual people/characters should receive qualifiers. Okay, it's all clear now. My apologies for reverting everything. :) --From Andoria with Love 15:35, 25 Nov 2005 (UTC)


 * I think Number One is fine where she is -- a large subset of non-canon data considers this to be her real name -- D.C. Fontana developed a backstory for her character that establishes "Number One" is her correct name of record, based on her origin on an Earth colony, she worked this backstory based on Gene's insinuatuion that there was something mysterious about her origins.


 * Furthermore "number one" as an informal title should never be capitalized -- a formal title like CMO would be conversationally decapitalized in proper American English writing -- Beverly Crusher was chief medical officer., or capitalized only when it is used as a proper noun -- Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy... there is no such case for capitalization for number one -- you could say William T. Riker was number one of the Enterprise-D. but there really isn't a use for it as proper -- he could never be addressed as Number One William T. Riker. -- Captain Mike K. Barteltalk 15:41, 25 Nov 2005 (UTC)


 * Okay, maybe I should have left everything where it was instead of reverting my revert. Sorry, folks, I'm tired. I'll leave all this up to you guys... --From Andoria with Love 15:48, 25 Nov 2005 (UTC)

I'm not so sure about this whole capitalization issue (and there are still some unanswered questions on the relevant discussion pages). After writing the initial comment, I tried to find some precedents for or against capitalization. On Wikipedia, Number One (especially in its meaning as a "navy term") and titles in general (Title) are capitalized. Then there's the idea of "Number One" being a "proper noun" with all the consequences regarding capitalization. If there are capitalization rules in the english language regarding this, there has to be a source to look them up, right? And yes, I think we should postpone the re-re-revertions for the moment... ;) -- Cid Highwind 15:52, 25 Nov 2005 (UTC)

To keep this alive... It's is amazingly hard to find anything "definite" about capitalization, but here are two resources:,. Especially regarding this last rule, I think that both articles need to be located at capitalized titles... -- Cid Highwind 15:03, 28 Nov 2005 (UTC)
 * According to the first one, the general rule for titles is: capitalize when used with the name ("Captain Picard"), don't if used without the name ("the captain said...").
 * Though additionally, it also says (Rule 6): Capitalize any title when used as a direct address. Isn't this the case here?
 * The second one has the following rule: Always capitalize a "title of relationship" it it takes the place of the person's name or is used as part of the person's name. Isn't Number One (used by a captain to refer to his XO) such a "title of relationship".

The term "Number One" really is a nickname and not a title. It's used like you would call William "Will" or James "Jim". Given that, it probably should be moved to Number One (nickname) or something similar, as this would use the proper capitalization for the nickname. The other option would be to move Number One to Number One (character) and make the regular Number One page a disambig.--Kdmurray 07:15, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Number three
Wasn't there a third (guest) captain who referred his first officer as "Number One" in one of the series? Recollection tells me there might be, and I could easily be wrong, but whatever it is I am thinking of is sitting on the tip of my tongue, and figured it might be easier to post it here than rack my brain all day. --Alan del Beccio 16:45, 25 Nov 2005 (UTC)
 * Actually now I remember, it was Dr. Crusher who referred to him as Number One on at least one occasion. All I could think of in the above post was that whoever said it made it seem awkward, suggesting a third captain, or something of that sort. --Alan del Beccio 16:48, 25 Nov 2005 (UTC)