Number Five is one of the most beloved characters in The Umbrella Academy Netflix series. Not only does his cynicism and apparent youth make for an interesting and hilarious contradiction, but he's also one of the most clever characters. But does Five have a name?
About Five
Number Five is portrayed by 18-year-old Aidan Gallagher who has shown incredible range in playing a man who got separated from his family while still a teen, navigated decades alone in an apocalyptic landscape, and, ultimately returned to a teenage body and stopped the apocalypse thrice in less than a month.
Five is occasionally cold and ruthless but he does care about his family. His power to move through space and time is what set many of the show's events forward, and what, eventually, helps prevent the apocalypse in Season 1.
Does Five Have A Name in The Umbrella Academy?
Unlike his siblings, Five doesn't have an actual regular name, either in the comics or in the Netflix tv series. In the comic, he's alternatively known as The Boy, but in the tv series, he's only ever referred to as Five.
The reason why Five does not have a name is most likely related to his backstory. Five disappeared at the age of thirteen, during a failed attempt to travel through space and time.
Since then, he lived alone in an apocalyptic landscape until he was in his fifties and finally found a way to return.
Nothing was the same this time around, though; his siblings were all adults and their adoptive father Reginald Hargreeves had died.
The siblings all refer to him as Five, alluding to the number their father gave each of them according to their perceived usefulness to him.
The comic might help us better understand why Five doesn't have a name while his siblings do; at some point, Grace, the robot who acted as the Hargreeves' adoptive mother, gave the children names. Five, however, had already disappeared by then, so he never got a name.
Of course, there's something odd in this explanation if we were to apply it to the series. Since Five got lost at the age of thirteen, it's a bit implausible that Grace would have waited until the children were even older than that before giving them names.
Related: How Did Ben Hargreeves Die in The Umbrella Academy?
Comic book author Gerard Way has suggested that, unlike his other siblings, Five was aware of his own self-worth and power and wasn't bothered with the number his father gave him and thus never felt the need for a name.
Aidan Gallagher, the actor who portrays Five, on the other hand, believes that Five, in his haughtiness, rejected Grace's name for him.
So far, the series itself has not confirmed why Five still chooses to go by a number instead of the name. Perhaps The Umbrella Academy Season 4 will have an answer - though at this point the character is so iconic that we don't see any aspect of him changing soon.
Related: The Umbrella Academy Season 3 Ending Explained
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