Star Wars Names

Been thinking about Star Wars character names, ever since we had that thread about stormtroopers and someone told me there's a stormtrooper named Davin Felth. That name sucks.

So I started thinking about the names people have in the movies.

I'm only counting human characters who's names are used in the movie.

Star Wars

• Luke Skywalker... odd last name but it is English.
• Owen Lars... Lars is a first name, used as a surname.
• Beru Lars... It's a wierd name, but it's short.
• Obi-Wan Kenobi aka Ben... A bit wierd, but very reminiscent of Japanese names. Can't get more normal than Ben.
• Han Solo... Han isn't far from Hans, a real name, and Solo isn't usually a name but a recognizable word.
• Leia... not far removed from normal names like Lee or Leigh.
• Tarkin... not a normal last name, but wouldn't be wierd if you met Greg Tarkin at work.
• Darth Vader... wierdest name in the first movie.

Empire Strikes Back

• Piett, Veers, Motti, Ozzel... last names. Wouldn't stand out in the real world.
• Lando Calrissian... This name is surely not from this world, and sounds 'exotic' even compared to other names from the movie.

Return of the Jedi

• Mon Mothma... arguably the goofiest name in the OT.
• Anakin... Not a real name, but resembles "Ken" or "Nick" grounding it somehwat.

Episode One

• Qui-Gon Jinn- A fantasy name, but like Obi-Wan, tries to sound kinda Asiany.
• Ric Ollie... Spelling aside, a normal name ("Whooooo!")
• Padme Amidala... totally wierd.
• Mace Windu... first name resmebles "Mason" but Windu is just weird.
• Palpatine... grounded somewhat in reality with its assocsiations with the Palatine hill in Rome. Still all sci-fi-y

Episode Two

• Dooku... no comment
• Jango Fett... just plain strange.

Episode Three

• Were there any new human characters?

My conclusion is that the names USED in the movies (Sio Bibble isn't named in dialogue) aren't anywhere near as weird as the names given to characters in the EU. In fact, most bare at least a passing resemblance to normal Earth names.

My final analysis is that EU names kinda suck. Then end. Thank you for your time.

I felt that it always made sense for the Jedi to have wierd, kinda exotic "asiany" names, since they were pretty much made out to be space samurai. Names like Mace Windu and Qui-Gon Jinn work because of that.

Dooku just sounds stupid though.

The origin of Jango is... Django!  A spagetti western:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_%28film%29

Similar to Jedi coming from Jidaigeki, a type of japanese period drama

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jidaigeki

take something foreign and shorten it.  so it's faster and more... well it's shorter.

Anakin is derived from the Judeao-Christian stories surrounding Giants in the Bible.

Anakim (or Anakites) are the descendants of Anak, and dwelt in the south of Canaan, in the neighbourhood of Hebron. In the days of Abraham, they inhabited the region later known as Edom and Moab, east of the Jordan river. They are mentioned during the report of the spies about the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. The Book of Joshua states that Joshua finally expelled them from the land, excepting a remnant that found a refuge in the cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. The Philistine giant Goliath, whom David^[44] later encountered, was supposedly a descendant of the Anakim.^{[citation needed]}

The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.

—^[45]

It is more commonly suggested by traditional Jewish sources (such as the Midrash) that the spies saw large and powerful inhabitants in Canaan and because of their own fears, cowardice, and inadequate faith in Yahweh, saw themselves as grasshoppers in the eyes of the Canaanites, whether they were actual "giants" or not.^{[citation needed]}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anakim#Anakim

TheBoost said:

My final analysis is that EU names kinda suck.

Exar Kun's gonna pwn yo ass, mofo.

TheBoost said:

Been thinking about Star Wars character names, ever since we had that thread about stormtroopers and someone told me there's a stormtrooper named Davin Felth. That name sucks.

So I started thinking about the names people have in the movies.

I'm only counting human characters who's names are used in the movie.

Star Wars

• Luke Skywalker... odd last name but it is English.
• Owen Lars... Lars is a first name, used as a surname.
• Beru Lars... It's a wierd name, but it's short.
• Obi-Wan Kenobi aka Ben... A bit wierd, but very reminiscent of Japanese names. Can't get more normal than Ben.
• Han Solo... Han isn't far from Hans, a real name, and Solo isn't usually a name but a recognizable word.
• Leia... not far removed from normal names like Lee or Leigh.
• Tarkin... not a normal last name, but wouldn't be wierd if you met Greg Tarkin at work.
• Darth Vader... wierdest name in the first movie.

 

Empire Strikes Back

• Piett, Veers, Motti, Ozzel... last names. Wouldn't stand out in the real world.
• Lando Calrissian... This name is surely not from this world, and sounds 'exotic' even compared to other names from the movie.

Return of the Jedi

• Mon Mothma... arguably the goofiest name in the OT.
• Anakin... Not a real name, but resembles "Ken" or "Nick" grounding it somehwat.

Episode One

• Qui-Gon Jinn- A fantasy name, but like Obi-Wan, tries to sound kinda Asiany.
• Ric Ollie... Spelling aside, a normal name ("Whooooo!")
• Padme Amidala... totally wierd.
• Mace Windu... first name resmebles "Mason" but Windu is just weird.
• Palpatine... grounded somewhat in reality with its assocsiations with the Palatine hill in Rome. Still all sci-fi-y

 

Episode Two

• Dooku... no comment
• Jango Fett... just plain strange.

 

Episode Three

• Were there any new human characters?

 

My conclusion is that the names USED in the movies (Sio Bibble isn't named in dialogue) aren't anywhere near as weird as the names given to characters in the EU. In fact, most bare at least a passing resemblance to normal Earth names.

My final analysis is that EU names kinda suck. Then end. Thank you for your time.

Yea, but where's the fun if you exclude the weird alien names? Some of those can end up very funny with knowledge of the right language...

for example, Chewbacca is very similar to Russian "sobaca", i.e. dog. "Backe" means "cheek" in German, and "chew"... well, that's too reaching, maybe.

Jabba, again, is very reminiscent of the Russian "szaba", which means "toad". He also says "ya yest khochu" at one point, referring to "the Wookie", which, in Russian, means "I want to eat" :D

Fett? That means "fat" in German. "Maul"? Gee, Maul... that's "gob". Halt's Maul = shut your gob.

Now, of course, we all know what "to maul" is, so that leads us to the next category - the obvious, silly, cheesy names that are too obvious and kitschy to be taken seriously.

Skywalker? Like "Starkiller" :D

Solo? Cuz he's like "solo", right?

Vader? Well regardless of original ideas, it's like the German "Vater", which is "father".

Grievous? Insidious? Palpation, maybe? Maul? Greed$?

Gun Ray???

So anyway, you go back to, like, "Flash Gordon", with its "Princess Aura"s and "Prince Vultan"s, and you see that some of the original SW names were supposed to be not just "normal" and "English", but actually silly and campy.

Few annotations: Lea is a real name, although I only know it in Germany. Django is obviously a name, too. Never heard of a "Boba", though... Bobafett? Seriously? It's like "Fat Bubba" :D Or "Fatbob" :DDD

Does Han Solo use forums in your world? ;-)

I think Han Solo is a kind of reference to Lancelot.

TMBTM said:

I think Han Solo is a kind of reference to Lancelot.

 Wow.

In all my years of loving Star Wars AND being a rabid Arthurian that has never ever occured to me. It really makes a lot of since.

It now asks the question, do you suppose Lucas did that intentionally?

I wouldn't be surprised.  As I said in a different thread, he's delusional, not dumb.  You can even assume

Spoiler:

he's smart.

doubleofive said:

I assumed for years that "Solo" was a name he gave himself. Some quote from one of the Han Solo Adventures or original novelizations mentioned something about "though his name was Solo, he was truly alone now".

 That makes sense in ENGLISH, but in Correllian "Solo" actually translates as "Mudhouse Sea Dog."

Padme is a very normal Earth name. It means lotus. A more common version of the name is Padma.

I think it fits the character beautifully.

Leia (various spellings exist) is also a real name least we forget Princess Leia Of Hungary ;-)

A lot of the wierd names in Star Wars have more roots in real languages than is first apparent to those of us who only speak english.  I remember seeing some of the odd names for planets in the prequels while they were being made, only to be surprised to find out (often by accident) that they were ACTUAL names of real places (often very remote) on earth.  Though they were usually spelled slightly different than their earthly counterparts.

For example, the planet Utapau from ROTS is one letter away from the U-Tapao airport in Thailand...

And Mustafar is probably from the arabic name Mustafa, an epithet of Muhammad that means "the chosen one."  (source)

Wasn't that a Jonathan King song?

Moth3r said:

If Peta Lactril were to marry Captain Panaka, she would be known as Peta Panaka.

Please...like anyone would ever consider marrying Panaka.

Wookieepedia says:

In Brazil Panaka's name was changed to "Panassi" due to the fact that his name is similar to "panaca" which has the same meaning as "douchebag".

Coincidence?  I think not.

Jolee's 'pedia mug shot:

Hawt.

If Zam Wessel married Charles Hawltrey Obi-Wan might have called her Zam Zam The Lavatory Man.