The Average Gamer

Trauma Center Names Revisited

Trauma Center screenshot - Derek saying It’s very likely that Trauma Center: Under The Knife patient names are inspired by the characters and actors of US medical TV shows. Last year I tracked down as many names as I could. Most of them turned out to be from House, ER and Scrubs.

For a while, I thought it was just coincidence – Greg, Robert, Neil – They’re not terribly uncommon names. Then I looked into the cast and characters of Nip/Tuck and Grey’s Anatomy – one match between them and that was “Linda”. I don’t think that’s enough to include as a source. You can see the full list in the original post – Trauma Center Names from US Hospital Dramas

I still have a few gaps:

  • Kevin Turk – Turk is from Scrubs. Kevin?
  • Neil Spence – Neil Flynn of Scrubs. Is Spence a short form of House’s Jesse Spencer or something less tenuous?
  • Mario Kovac – Dr. Luka Kovac from ER. Who’s Mario?
  • Greg Kasal – Probably Dr. Greg House, but is Kasal from the original Japanese?
  • Linda Reid – Scrubs’ Elliot Reid. Maaaaybe Nurse Linda from Nip/Tuck.
  • Elisa Chalke – Sarah Chalke from Scrubs. Lisa Edelstein from House?
  • Jack Reyes – Judy Reyes from Scrubs. Jack – maybe derived from John McGinley
  • Amy Chase – Dr. Chase from House. I have no idea about Amy
  • Chi McGinley – Obviously John C. McGinley of Scrubs. Chi McBride had a 5-episode stint on House in 2005. What do you think? It’s definitely not a common name.
  • Thomas Epps – Omar Epps from House. Thomas is pretty common but it might match up to a surname elsewhere.
  • R. Anderson – Maybe Sam Anderson of ER who played Jack Kayson – could match up to Jack Reyes above. Bit tenuous.

Either the translators got very slightly creative or I’m missing another medical drama. Any ideas?

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