I rewatched the first episode of Voyager, and when Neelix first comes aboard the ship, he marvels at the great culture that created it. Tuvok says something along the lines of “The Federation is made up of many cultures. I am Vulcan”. A few scenes later, Neelix calls Tuvok “Mr. Vulcan”, and Tuvok does not correct him. So, yeah, 100% lack of communication on Tuvok’s side. Sure, Neelix hears other people call Tuvok by his proper name, and as some point he understood “Vulcan” is the name of his race. But by then, as Tuvok never corrected him or shown any visible dislike to being called that, he might have come to the conclusion that Tuvok likes it, and thinks of it as a funny nickname.
The Doctor was the intended Spock/Data surrogate.
I’d say they understood the formula too well since they added a second one in season 4.
@beefcat @sj_zero I agree that the doctor was the “exploring humanity” character until Seven was added. Neelix was the “hospitality” character, Guinan in TNG, and Quark in DS9, but it was poorly written to the point of just being annoying, IMO. If the whole “hounding Tuvok to get him to loosen up” was supposed to be funny, it failed.