I would like to give a HUGE shout out to the writers of Star Trek: Lower Decks for FINALLY laying to rest that utterly ridiculous theory that Nick Locarno was a fake name used by Tom Paris to avoid special treatment.
It wasn't, because Locarno and Paris are two different characters who happened to be portrayed by the same actor who happened to have similar backgrounds because the Voyager writers apparently ran out of ideas for original backstories after they decided not to use the Locarno character (whether because of royalty issues or Locarno being determined to be "irredeemable" -- or both -- is up for debate) and decided to just "alter" Locarno's story for new character Tom Paris.
Fans who subscribed to this theory and made it their "headcanon" apparently did not understand that it NEVER would have worked. Why? I'll tell you:
Because falsifying information on your official record is grounds for dismissal from the service (as "The Drumhead" and "Ad Astra Per Aspera" showed us).
Because hundreds, if not thousands, of Starfleet officers have gone through the academy after having parents or other relatives who became famous (James Kirk, Demora Sulu, Kathryn Janeway, and Alandra and Sidney La Forge for example) and made it through on their own merits, without expecting or fearing special treatment.
Because Tom was too egotistical about his abilities to want his awesomeness credited to someone else.
Because Tom was so rebellious at the time that he would have been determined to prove he was his own man and not just "Owen Paris's son".
Because there is no way that Owen Paris would have risked his own reputation and career to get Tom back into Starfleet under his own name after his son's actions (actions he certainly would never have condoned; he would have been ashamed and humiliated) led to death of another cadet.
Because even if Tom somehow did manage to skate through four years of Starfleet Academy under a false name, he would have had to continue using it the rest of his life -- he never could have been an officer under his own name, because revealing he'd faked his ID would have gotten him fired. Someone who knew him as Tom or who knew his dad would eventually have caused exposure of the secret.
Because if Tom had used a fake name, Janeway and everyone else on Voyager would have known he had used the name, and it was never once mentioned.
Because Voyager established that Tom Paris actually graduated from Starfleet Academy, and we all know that Nick Locarno didn't. Now the latter has a planet named after him. I wonder if my character Cate Ross would be sent to study the planet...
