Ryan McAvoy said:
I never thought of it before but you're right HAL, it doesn't make much sense that a Fighter-Pilot fanboy like Luke would have never heard of the greatest pilot who ever lived.
It would be like a kid called 'Luke Senna' growing up living, sleeping and breathing motor-racing and nobody ever says "It's funny you should like cars and motor racing because there was this world famous Ayrton Senna dude!? He was the best driver ever". Then Luke replies "Oh really?? That's odd because my dad was called 'Ayrton Senna' too but he was just a bus driver".
Even on a backwater like Tatooine this unlikely what with Luke probably hanging round Anchorhead talking to pilots and hearing tales of far off worlds. If Luke had spent his whole life dreaming of being a moisture farmer then fair enough. If he'd spent his childhood reading 'Moisture Farmer Monthly', glueing together model Vaporators and collecting 'Moisture Farming Bubblegum Cards', then I could believe that he'd have never come across this famous pilot with the same name as him.
It would be like that if it was just one planet, especially tatooine. But there are "countless" star systems in the galaxy. Tatooine, Alderaan, Coruscant just to name a few... Now imagine that at the same time... NONE of the other people in the galaxy were named Anakin? Or had the last name Skywalker? There are so many people named... Tom Cruise for example. In my town a guy named Tom Cruise runs a wheelchair store. If someone said their father was named Tom Cruise... No way would I assume it was either of those people. Also, who ever explicitly told luke his father's name was Anakin until Obi-Wan? Perhaps Owen and Beru told him Jeff Skywalker was his father.