Star Wars

Star Wars Names

No one needs introduction to Star Wars, a pop culture phenomenon since the original first film released in 1977. The first film was later renamed to Episode IV - A New Hope, causing controversy among the hard core fans. Nevertheless, 7 other films followed and, nominated for the Academy Awards and broke box office records.

The epic Star Wars universe created by George Lucas expanded to other industries and media, from comic books and novels through television series to video games and entertainment parks.

The amazing base story and the universe behind it captured the imagination of millions of fans who named their kids after famous or infamous characters, still play fantasy games or the new generation that is more into Star Wars video games.

The first electronic game was a table-top Star Wars Electronic Battle Command created in 1979 by Kenner. A massive multiplayer MMO online role-playing game the Star Wars: The Old Republic also captivated millions of gamers since 2008.

The Star Wars universe is so huge, with all sorts of species, creatures and worlds, all with specific languages and names, that a name generator has a difficult challenge to overcome.

Origin of Star Wars Names

Lucas created a modern mythology with Star Wars, and this world was heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell’s comparative mythology book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In this book, Campbell describes the motif of adventure and transformation, also known as the Hero’s Journey, that runs through nearly all of the world’s mythic traditions and stories.

Lucas’ intention with naming Star Wars characters was going back to humanity’s roots and its world of mythology, while still staying up to date and modern with the general richness of our world of cultures and their distinctive features. The dozens of worlds and their people all have their unique names, naming patterns, even the so called Star Wars human names.

For example, arguably the strongest name Anakin was invented by Lucas, some say it was based on the Nordic name of Anniken, some say it is based on a kind of giant mentioned in the Bible.

According to Lucas, he name Darth is a variation of dark, and Vader means Father in Dutch.

Luke means light in Greek, while the surname Skywalker went through many transformation before it reached its final form. George Lucas initial idea was Starkiller, but later changed this due to the fact it sounded a little too aggressive.

Obi Wan Kenobi’s name was most likely inspired by and a tribute to the samurai films made by Akira Kurosawa, and the Japanese pop culture in general. Ken means Sword in Japanese, while Obi is what Japanese use to tie a kimono.

Star Wars Baby Names

Not surprisingly, Star Wars fans occasionally name their babies after powerful, charismatic or cute characters in the Star Wars universe. According to the Social Security Administration’s report in 2017, investigating birth certificates in the U.S., the fastest growing boys name was Kylo, named after the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa.

Anakin was also highly popular among parents to name their children. When Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was released in 1999, 114 boys were named after Anakin Skywalker. Ths number reached 303 by 2016 (including 7 baby girls!).

The most popular Star Wars inspired baby name was of course Leia (1005 baby girls), followed by Anakin, Kylo, Jacen, Jaina, Allana and Kage.

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