Actors with no credited character names

@gromit82​ 

Currently, William Shatner's character on "Star Trek" is listed as "Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk", which certainly violates the guideline above, but it was probably entered into IMDb before the guideline was written.

Six months ago it was "Capt. Kirk".

@scgary66​ The problem occurs with many TV series, where the regulars have their real names in the credits but their character names are not given in the credits of any episode. And in some cases, the character may have a full name, including a middle name and nickname, established in the dialogue over the course of the series, yet that doesn't mean that all of that is supposed to go into their IMDb character name. Otherwise we wind up with "Joseph 'Joey' Francis Tribbiani" instead of "Joey Tribbiani".

@gromit82​ Actually, I don't have a problem with listing "Joseph Francis 'Joey' Tribbiani", as long as it's only for the episode in which the full name is given; it's useful when someone wants to find the episode where the full name is indicated. I did the same with Hal Linden's credit on "Barney Miller" Hunger Strike.

@Mvybuf​ Actually, I'd list Kelley as Dr. McCoy from the beginning, as it's always clear he's the ship's doctor. Referring to characters such as Spock and Sulu as "Mr." certainly seems to derive from military usage (unless I'm mistaken, only Kirk - a senior commissioned officer - referred to them in that way). As for first names, I'd include them as a matter of course once they're established. I'd generally choose between a given name and a more commonly used nickname, unless both are used in the episode. (Again, I think only Kirk called McCoy "Bones", so I'd avoid that unless it's used in the episode; Leonard can be used once it's established as his first name.)

@scgary66​ Using a fuller character name, like adding a first name or even a title like Mr, when they're credited onscreen in every episode only as their last name, would clearly violate IMDb guidelines. Almost all the "regular" character names for every Star Trek TOS episode on IMDb are in violation.

The only exceptions are "Mr. Spock", because that is the credit onscreen and Capt. Kirk who has no credit. I was wrong about Dr. McCoy; I wasn't thinking clearly. He is credited onscreen in every season: in the closing credits in season 1 and in the opening credits in seasons 2 & 3. In all cases as "Dr. McCoy".

So aside from the wrong entries for the "full" names that need to be changed in every ST:TOS episode individually (what a hassle), Kirk's elaborate name needs to be changed to "Capt. Kirk" for every episode as well.

The idea for uncredited character names, of using the most common moniker in a TV or movie series, taking into account "popular" usage, or the most common usage in a single movie, and keeping to 2 words (3 in only rare cases), I agree should be the de facto rule (notwithstanding its lack in IMDb's guidelines).

@gromit82​ Interesting that you should mention Benson. While the original poster of that August 2019 thread or perhaps the original poster of the thread a couple weeks before that (you quoted a link to it there) did manage to correct Denise's last name in those earlier episodes before she got married, the listings for Benson are still not in compliance with IMDb policy, including Denise!

On IMDb the other Benson characters, like Star Trek TOS (and other Star Trek series too), have middle names and nicknames to boot. That is going overboard. A character name should not have a first name and a nickname; I think that should be a simple rule. One or the other.

But I repeat an additional challenge, which someone mentioned in the earliest thread, that is the same question as my post here: the characters on Benson were not credited onscreen with any character names at all! Therefore, I suggest that the Benson character's name should be Denise, and that's it. No middle and no last name either. That would solve the two original posters' marriage problem.

Just list whatever the character is most commonly addressed as. If everyone is referred to most often by just their first name, that's what should be listed. The entire Benson series should be changed.

And for Star Trek TNG where ALL the regulars had no character names listed, they should be credited simply by the most common name they're referred to. The other Star Trek series (Voyager, et al) the regulars were credited with character names onscreen which were elaborate (3 or 4 words), but for TOS just with one word last names. IMDb should list them exactly as onscreen.

That previous thread reminded me that the actor's page can be used to correct all occurences in one submission, rather than correct each episode individually. I'd forgotten about that.