The Bright, Shining Ones
So I was curious about the meaning of Danny’s names and looked them up. What I discovered made my jaw drop.
Danny’s original name is Rupert. Rupert is derived from the Latin Rupertus, which is in turn derived from the Old German Hrodebert (from which we get the modern name ‘Robert’). This is derived from the Germanic components hrod ”fame” and beraht ”bright”, so Rupert means “bright fame”. Bright and shining – the meaning of ‘Clara’.
So Rupert certainly ties in with the naming themes of this series, but in Doctor Who, it’s the name we choose that is important. We know that Danny chose to be known as Danny (maybe because of Dan the Soldier Man, maybe because it was his middle name already). The name ‘Daniel’ is derived from the Hebrew דָּנִיֵּאל meaning “God is my judge”. Clara’s surname, Oswald, is derived from the Old English os ”god” and weald ”rule”, i.e. “divine ruler”. This ties in with Danny not caring about whether the Doctor likes him or not. He cares about whether Clara likes him or not. God/Clara is his judge, not the Doctor. (How far we’ve come from the Doctor as the Lonely God!)
And of course, when Clara confesses she doesn’t like her surname (which symbolises the ‘bossy control freak’ part of her that she feels the need to hide), Danny immediately says that he does! He has no problem with her being a divine ruler, he just wants her to ‘judge’ him and the Doctor correctly.