Pop the question with this:

Ha. I'm surprised someone hasn't done this before.

Well, unless your loved one is a Trekkie, most probably this would fail as it would look like a bad joke (she might say: "who the f***k is the bald guy?"). Therefore, there is a selection bias involved...

meh, pretty much everyone over 25 knows who Picard is.

True mike. There are a lot of trekkie couples out there too and that's what I was thinking of.

Really? I hardly think so and I know at least one dozen people (of both sexes and various backgrounds) who don't have a clue who Jean Luc is. If you want, do this test yourself Mike, at work or at some other social circle. You could for example ask them if they know i) Chandler Bing from Friends and ii) Picard from TNG (both fictional and of similar time-scale)

Of course, there might be some bias in this test, eg almost everybody at my old Physics department has watched Trek, but at the nearby Humanities department they actually despise sci-fi .

This google trends search might help (not 100% the same, but short of doing a poll this is the best I can do)
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Chandler ... all&sort=0

In the US TNG became the most popular drama, not just SyFy show, in that market at that time.

Ah, those were the days...

I agree with you...and then there are those like my wife whom loath star trek and all sci fi.....
My three little ones love it especially the new baby...she will be assimilated...eventually.