[PreSage]

Originally Posted by PastPrime

Given Naru's surprise at Mai calling him "Naru", I think the real question might be "How did Mai come up with the name that Madoka called him?" And the answer, of course, is her ESP. I think it was at that point that Naru realized that there might be something special about Mai.

I think it was pretty clear that Mai came up with that nickname because of the word "narcissist" and her association of its context with Naru's personality. Her power isn't the kind (if there is such a kind) that would allow her to obtain such information.

Originally Posted by David Johnston

Spoiler:

1. It is fairly well established that Naru spent much of his formative years in an English-speaking country. England tops the list of possibilities because of Naru's mad passion for tea.

2. Davis is a top English psychic investigator.

3. Naru is a telekinetic. One dangerous enough that Lin is very concerned by Naru even doing a spoon bending demonstration.

4. Davis is famous for supposedly executing an impossibly powerful telekinetic feat. But only once.

5. Naru is very shy of publicity in general and revealing his power in particular, to the point where he fakes a spoonbending just to convince his associates that he has no power except the inexorable power of money and intelligence.

I think Davis was investigating Naru, Naru cut loose, and Davis ended up getting the "credit" to protect Naru.

After reading your post, I think I'm onto something...

From all the evidence in addition to the observation of Naru's behaviour whenever Davis is mentioned, one could also speculate that

Spoiler for Warning! Naru's identity and name POSSIBLY deduced!:

Naru is Davis. For the evidences you've already pointed out AND the fact that Naru and Davis have the same ESP ability (they can both read the past whenever they touch an object and Naru cleanly slices the spoon in half with ease), it is a very likely possibility. A very interesting observation - and certainly emphasizes Naru being Davis in my mind, now that I've read David's post - is the fact that no one really knows what Davis looks like among the Japanese top psychic institutes that have gathered in this arc, such that another person had successfully impersonate the famous psychic researcher. If Davis is as famous as he's proclaimed to be then certainly others around the world, including Japan, would know him. However, it appears that they only know him by name. So, tie that in with Naru's adamant insistence to avoid all public media would mean that very few people would know his face. Also, if you think about it, Davis is the only other personality that is constantly being mentioned in the backdrop like a clue. His entire name is Oliver Davis right? I remember it was mentioned somewhere earlier. So then what could be the connection between the name Oliver Davis and Naru - if indeed, Naru is Davis?

I've looked up the name Oliver Davis and these are the lists of related names. I've only included English masculine names. There are female names as well but, as much as our crazy minds like to imagine, Naru is pretty much our typical male .

Related names for Oliver:

(1) NOLL
(2) OLI
(3) OLLIE

Related names for Davis (English and Welsh):

(1) DAFYDD
(2) DAI
(3) DÀIBHIDH
(4) DAITHÍ
(5) DAIVIDH
(6) DAVID
(7) DAVIE
(8) DAVY
(9) DAWSON
(10) DAWUD
(11) DEWEY
(12) DEWI
(13) TAFFY

Okay...deduction time: I can't see any connection for Davis. So personally I would reason that Naru is related to his first name and not the last name. That limits us to 3 possibilities.

Now researching into greater details of each of the three remaining possibilities, this is what I got:

(1) NOLL
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Medieval pet form of OLIVER

(2) OLI
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AHL-ee [key]
Short form of OLIVER

(3) OLLIE
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AHL-ee [key]
Short form of OLIVER or OLIVIA

Now, if you recall my previous post: there could only be two ways 'Naru' is related to Naru's real name: (A) pronunciation (perhaps his real name or whatever name he really goes by (i.e. Bill for William) sounds like Naru when spoken or (B) shortened version of his full name (ie. Pete for Peter).

Now related-names (2) and (3) would fall under category (B) and related-name (1) would fall under category (A). Personally, I can't see any connection for related-names (2) and (3). So then that leaves us with only (1) Noll. Well, both starts with an 'N'...so that fits. But how else does Noll fit with Naru? The only thing I can think of is pronunciation but Noll hardly sounds like Naru (even after listening to Mai repeatedly say Naru about ten times ). Maybe Naru barely heard her say Naru and thought she said Noll? That might be...This would also make sense when you tie in the fact that Madoka and Lin also calls Naru by 'Naru'. Maybe they are really saying Noll which sounds like Naru to the others - whom are proficient in English pronunciation (like how I would have no idea that Mai is saying "Naru" if I didn't know about the name "Naru" in the first place - I would have though she'd be saying Narle ).

Click, click, click...everything seems to click into place for me. So then am I right? Is Naru really Oliver Davis? It seems to be the most logical conclusion to me - otherwise, there's no other name dropped so far as a clue to Naru's real name and identity. By golly Watson, I think we've got it! But darnit, I have to wait till the end of the series to know whether I'm right or not...ack! The suspense...the suspense! .

But it would be funny if Naru turns out to be Davis. Then looking back at the scene when Minami said they have "Davis" with them, the real Davis was sitting right there - hah-hah. I can just imagine what went through Naru's mind then (that is, if my speculation is correct).

Hmm, now onto why Naru wears black...and dream!Naru...and why he's in Japan...and was it Earl Grey or Jasmine Green Tea he brought to Mai ...so many more questions . Dang, I love this series. Trying to solve the Naru mystery is so fun!!!