<P> In 2011 series opener `` The Impossible Astronaut '' / `` Day of the Moon '' , River , along with Amy and her husband Rory ( Arthur Darvill ) , is contacted by a future version of the Doctor to meet up in the United States . As they enjoy a lakeside picnic , the Doctor is killed by an assailant in a space suit , and the trio give him a Viking funeral , in Lake Silencio . In 1969 , the present Doctor and company subsequently encounter a little girl ( Sydney Wade ) who wears the space suit , which River tells the Doctor is a life support unit ; the suit has been designed by the hypnotic aliens known as the Silence . Homeless , the girl is later shown regenerating in New York City , 1970 . In `` A Good Man Goes to War '' , it is revealed that River is Amy and Rory 's daughter Melody ( Harrison and Maddison Mortimer ) , who was conceived in the TARDIS while it was in the Time Vortex and consequently carries Time Lord DNA ; the name River Song comes from a recursive translation of Melody Pond via the language of the Gamma Forests ; which have no ponds , only rivers ; hence the translation of `` Pond '' to `` River . '' Baby Melody is kidnapped by Madame Kovarian ( Frances Barber ) to become a weapon against the Doctor . </P>
how does river song have time lord dna
conceived in the TARDIS while it was in the Time Vortex