Tegan Jovanka was a character in the
British television series
Doctor Who, played by actress Janet Fielding. She was a feisty
Australian
air hostess who appeared in the penultimate
Tom Baker story
Logopolis in 1981, and stayed with the
Peter Davidson incarnation for a few seasons. Her nasally
Australian dry wit and whinging added a human touch to the
Tardis and the company of the Doctor's scientifically minded and insufferable companions
Adric and
Nyssa.
Using a database, a cursory check of Australian children born in the early 1980s shows that four times as many girls were named Tegan after her character appeared on Australian television than before.