Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2021 December 4

= December 4 =

Captain Nicholl's first name
What's the first name of Captain Nicholl of Jules Verne's From Earth To Moon? I seem to recall he had a similarly outrageous name like Impey Barbicane but can't remember what it was. 46.188.171.123 (talk) 06:38, 4 December 2021 (UTC)
 * In the English translation of From the Earth to the Moon and Round the Moon available on Project Gutenberg, a CTRL-F seach on "Nicholl" through the whole text finds him only referred to as "Captain Nicholl", "The Captain", "Nicholl" and, in a single presumed error, "Colonel Nicholl". {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.208.90.66 (talk) 08:23, 4 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I checked the French text and can confirm that no first name is ever given. Various sites about the book also only call him "Captain" Nicholl. Xuxl (talk) 17:46, 4 December 2021 (UTC)


 * Impey Barbicane is the name of another character in the the book. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 11:01, 4 December 2021 (UTC)
 * He's apparently named after geologist Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, whose name was given to a lunar crater. . Xuxl (talk) 17:46, 4 December 2021 (UTC)
 * The crater was named in 1935, seventy years after Verne wrote the novel. While the two Impeys share a given name, it is not clear that the fictional Impey was named specifically after the geologist; other than the name, the two have little in common. --Lambiam 09:58, 5 December 2021 (UTC)
 * But Murcheson was a leading geologist, lauded in France not long prior to the scientifically literate Verne writing the novel. Do we have any other plausible candidate(s) for the source, bearing in mind that Impey is usually a (rather uncommon) surname, and very rarely used as a forename? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.208.90.66 (talk) 08:06, 6 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Stuyvesant Nicholl, in From the Earth to the Moon (film). Card Zero  (talk) 16:53, 5 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Also Victor Barbicane in the movie. Clarityfiend (talk) 10:05, 6 December 2021 (UTC)