Apologies if this has been raised before but I haven't seen it and it only occurred whilst watching the recent shows on Watch.

In the opening scenes of TNOTD the two workers on gallifrey state that someone is trying to steal a faulty Tardis.

Now in the shows on Watch it transpires that Susan named the Tardis so how would the two workers on gallifrey ever heard the name Tardis ???

Maybe she came up with the name prior to them leaving Gallifrey?

It's a continuity problem, but I've always thought the ret-con answer would be that she turned the existing name into an acronym.

It's always been a "Tardis", but she invented a meaning for each letter and named it "T.A.R.D.I.S."

Maybe one of the workers is her Dad. The bigger continuity error is that Clara told The Doctor what Tardis to take but the Tardis said in TDW that she chose him.

Nah, that's the big 50th reveal that Clara is the Tardis. Oops, you didn't hear that from me...

We know little of The Doctor's and Susan's lives before leaving Gallifrey, like all inventions someone somewhere has to name them, and the name can be changed over time (who calls a car an automobile anymore?). So it's quite possible Susan could have come up with the temporary name, or indeed, the acrynym.

Or she was fibbing, or perhaps boasting that she made up the name to impress her teachers

I always thought the bigger continuity error was the thought that the character of the first doctor would respond to the suggestion that that particular Tardis would be "much more fun".

"Begone, you reckless child. You're trying to insinuate that my choice is somehow incorrect, hmm? I will take your suggestion into consideration, but be sure that it will be entirely MY decision which TARDIS I choose."

*Furiously pulls Susan into the "fun" TARDIS*

Lots of other 'Lords and miscellaneous aliens have seemed to know them as Tardises over the years, so the question is raised: could The Name of the Doctor have avoided a continuity error by going in either direction?

Being Who, we can just assume it's wibbly wobbly. An adventure backwards established Susan's name for the thing before it had otherwise been invented,

Indeed. I loved the episode...still do. But I try not to think about the implications of it too much. I am not sure I am comfortable with such an underwritten non-entity companion like Clara being so significant. And the way Moffat just tosses that idea at us and is done with it shows his often slap dash approach to things that should have more importance. File next to 'regeneration' in that respect.

The simplest answer has always been that Susan just came up with the *English* translation.

She could have taken the original Gallifreyan name for the craft (whatever that was), translated it into English as "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space", and got "TARDIS" from the initials.

The two workers in TNOTD are using the original Gallifreyan term, we're just hearing it translated.

Ah, but Clara was undoing the harm caused to the Doctor's timeline by the Great Intelligence. Perhaps GI had somehow made the Doctor reject the TARDIS that was calling to him and chose a dangerously faulty one instead?

Yes, they used the original designation by the High Council, the "Twatting ARounD In Space" craft.

... and because this is before his travels, the Doctor hasn't learnt English yet, so because he's standing in a room of faulty Tardises he gives one the benefit of the doubt on its translation of 'fun'?

You know, because that Clara is on Gallifrey but speaking English so that the Doctor will get used to it. Obviously!

I seem to remember that the Tardis was ancient, decommissioned and in a museum according to one modern-era episode? In The Name of the Doctor, it seemed that the Tardis was stolen from a repair centre.

also in TDW, we learn't that the Tardis chose the doctor, not the other way round, yet in TNOTD we saw clara telling the doctor which one to choose

I think the biggest error of new who is the face of boe, cpt jack saying people called him the face of boe ect, but in utopia, Martha clearly states infront of both jack and the doctor "Think of what the face of boe said!?" , and jack doesn't even look like he knows who shes talking about haha

It was described as a museum ie old/obsolete, not located in a museum!

She was bluffing, playing mindgames with him.

That's not quite what was said. She said "You stole me and I stole you". My interpretation of this would be that he attempted to steal her and she allowed him to by letting the controls work for him. It was an emotive conversation not a literal, factual one.

From The IMDB quote database
Idris: Did you ever wonder why I chose you all those years ago?
The Doctor: I chose you. You were unlocked.
Idris: Of course I was. I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away. And you were the only one mad enough.

And Clara led him to a mad TARDIS with dodgy navigation controls!

Yes, That was at a different point but I would interpret that the same way. She was unlocked and allowed him to steal her. She didn't force him into the tardis or land on him and drag him off.

That I would pay money to see...

Pehaps Susan named the Tardis before she left Gallifrey?

Perhaps she won a Timelord version of a Blue Peter competition where you have to find a name for a Type 40 time travel capsule. Just a thought