Something just occurred to me...

The name Murdoc... is very similar to the word Murder.

You think the producers deliberately choose that name because of the similarity?

Well, I think that could very well be a reason- though it could also be pointed out that one of the good guys on The A-Team was named Murdock, albeit spelt with a "k". I don't know if it's necessarily a common name in real life families- but I suppose it could be.

But I do think that most every good writer usually tries to take all those things into account when creating characters. In Bible times, a person's name was very important because its meaning was used to define the person's life. For example, Jacob actually means "deceiver"- which proved to be true in his life.
And in writing, I think most good writers like to carefully pick a name to fit a personality or even subtly give an indication of their character just in the name. Obviously, some names are just arbitrarily given- but then others have names very fitting. I guess it depends on how much you want to try to read into things. But one example offhand I can think of is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel "The Lost World", wherein Professor Challenger explores South America and discovers dinosaurs still alive. This is a pretty obvious name for an explorer and adventurer.

But yeah- this kind of analysis is the stuff of AP English exams! (which I definitely remember taking- both the class and the test.)

Certainly sounds sinister. Would it be too much to hope they did it on purpose?

When we were younger, we used to joke about Murdoc's name. We'd call him "Murderoc"!

Could be, but I doubt it. Than of course names are usually taken because of the meaning or similarities. You could easily make it into Murderours Murdoc. Besides Murdoc with k's or h's also has a more sinister touch to it.

Of course, Murdoc also sounds pretty similar to MODOK- so maybe the writers were playing a little homage to him- though I doubt it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MODOK

(It's a Marvel comics villian- it stands for Mobile/Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing. Sounds like it could be an accurate description of Murdoc!)

And Modoc is also the name of a Native American Indian tribe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modoc
And the name of a town in South Carolina, USA.
Interesting...

Do you suppose Murdoc Niccals of the Gorillaz band is named after the character on MacGyver?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murdoc_Niccals

But then, like I mentioned before- there's also Captain H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock on The A-Team and Matt Murdock (who's secretly Daredevil- but, hey- don't tell anyone! )
- So not all Murdoc(k)s are bad.

Could be based on a real life person's name...like where RDA saw Angus on a banner and settled on that for Macgyver's first name if I remember right!

Lol - I was a P.A. for this battle of the bands show, and there was a band *named* Murdoc!

http://www.myspace.com/murdoktheband

They were pretty nice . I never asked them where *their* name came from, but asked them on myspace onece. They said something like that they just made it up (which sounded pretty made-up to me). I would'a been shoked if one of them was a fan and *thats* why their band is named that.... maybe they just thought it sounded cool.
Hey - you can get a Murdoc shirt from them - lol.

Lol - this would be on his business cards

lol, never thought about it, but he sure is a "Murder Doctor"

Interesting, all these hints and connections ...

As far as I know, there was somebody working on the Titanic whose name was Murdoc (but I'm not 100 % sure at the moment). I've heard the name now and then, anyway.

Concerning writing: Most writers pay a lot of attention to the names they give their characters. There doesn't necessarily have to be a special meaning, but at least the sound of the name should fit/reflect the character's personality.

Some time ago I've read somewhere (Must've been a scientific report) that the vowels in your name affect the chances to find a boyfriend/girlfriend. I don't remember exactly, it was something like:
Female names with "i" sound more feminine and thus are preferred by boys, while boys with "o" or "u" have better chances to find a girlfriend, because their names sound cooler.
Please, don't ask me if those were exactly the mentioned vowels and if it really works that way.

By the way: Is Murdoc the guy's first or last name? Or an alias?

I watched Halloween Knights today ('tis the season ), and Murdoc's sister has the last name of Cooke. So, maybe Murdoc's real name has Cooke in there somewhere, and Murdoc is an alias of some kind.