Lit Too many similar names

Remember Nichos Marr? From Children of the Jedi?

When I heard Crosscurrent had a Marr in it, I got all excited, thinking it would turn out to be some kind of reference to the forgotten Bantam-era Jedi. But no, it's the first name of a completely unrelated spacer.

And now TOR:Annihilation gives us a Darth Marr, again obviously unrelated (for a second I was thinking about a nod to Nichos over multiple generations, but aside from this being Karpyshyn it wouldn't make sense anyway because Sith names usually aren't family names).

I find this to be hugely irritating. I wouldn't mind seeing a few Jax Pavans (or even unrelated Skywalkers) running around the galaxy, because that would make lots of sense IU... but this kind of meaningless recurrence just reeks of lazy editors.

I'm sure there are more cases like that... another recent example I can think of is the fact that we got a character by the name of Lord Scourge in Revan and the TOR game pretty much at the same time that Scourge (the totally unrelated NR-era novel) came out. Who thought of that?

 

The worst one is Nute Gunray/Rute Gunnay/Rune Haako

 

I always get confused by there being two characters called Anakin.

 

That's not what I meant and you know it.

I also tend to get confused when I read summaries of all those LotF/FotJ novels I have never read, with all those Dorvans and Dorvald and wasn't there another person with a similar name? Overall I kind of have the feeling that most recent new names were sort of unoriginal and similar-sounding, but that may just be because I don't follow the post-NJO EU closely enough to really get to know these people as characters.

 

Yeah, jokes aside I know what you mean. I've found a lot of the recent names very uncreative and generic too.

If there was one thing Lucas was good at, at least he's always had a knack for catchy names. Bantam used to be good too. Lately, it's all Darth this or Just-One-Letter-Different that.

I'd like to see more C'baoths and Qui-Gons. Admittedly the books have tried exotic names recently... but lately their attempts have just felt completely awkward, rather than catchy like the films.

 

Ooh, reading on through Annihilation, I just met Darth Mortis.

Waiting for him to use a dagger, now.

 

Hah. I had the exact same thought when I read that name in the Annihilation thread.

 

I can see the annoyance of too many similar names in the same place or at the same time, but I really can't get behind the idea that because "Marr" was once used as a character's last name, that pretty basic sound can only be reused in the context of some relative of him. A galaxy is a big, big, big place. Names can't be perfectly unique in a galaxy of trillions over 25,000 years. I'd actually prefer some more recurrence -- the sort of stuff that Jason's done quite a bit of, in making sure that some first names see reuse among the supporting cast, so it's not as if Arhul Hextrophon is the only Arhul in the entire history of the galaxy. It makes it feel more like a place that's actually lived in by people, than a fictional construct where once somebody has a name, that's it for that name forevermore.

 

Ha, Marr. Funny thing about that name... that's the last name of a character from KOTOR II, Visas Marr. When I was creating my family name in TOR, I had a miraluka Jedi Knight, and I couldn't think of anything, so I thought, why the hell not, I'll have him be related to Visas. So my Legacy name in TOR is... Marr

Am I the only one who wants to see another Luke Skywalker fumbling around? Or at least a Skywalker, considering it's supposed to be a fairly common name (though of course, "common" in a galaxy of trillions might not be common as we think of it). Bonus points if he's totally insignificant and/or gets killed moments after his introduction.

 

Yes, I get annoyed, because I have to keep track of this.
But people have the same names in real life. And the SW universe is way bigger than ours. Why wouldn't this happen?

 

Even when you take into account that the occurrence of an unrelated Skywalker could be confusing (it would pretty much have to be played up as a gag where he complains that he's constantly being asked if he's any relation), you'd think there would at least be a few other Lukes somewhere in the galaxy. Or Hans, or Leias. But we never see Han Antilles of Talus, or New Sith Wars-era Jedi Leia Diath, or ancient Supreme Chancellor Luke Montero. Apparently, they're the GFFA-version of Moon Unit, Pilot Inspektor, and Jermajesty.

 

I would honestly love a disgruntled, surly soldier/pilot named Skywalker that gets incredibly pissy every time he's asked if there's any relation. Could make a good Wraith...

But yeah, the distinct lack of renaming, outside the small group of main characters who respectfully name their children after their elders, in the galaxy annoys me *. I don't demand a work of fiction, especially Star Wars fiction, emulate real life in every way it can, but little things like that go a long way towards establishing a believable universe; I read Star Wars books for the expansion of the universe, after all, and one of the most important things is to make me believe that people, not just characters, live in this galaxy.

*On my most recent playthrough of KOTOR, I had Revan's programmed identify be Skywalker... felt oddly appropriate, to think of the Jedi Council saying, "oh, we'll just give him some random common name".

 

Guy who is related but doesn't live up to expectations: Melvin Fett.

 

I'm actually thrilled to have the one steve limit broken more and more. Just like skywalker is supposed to be a fairly common name, it's nice to see that the galaxy is not one big extended family.

 

Darth Bane
Cad Bane
Bane Malar
Bane Nothos
Tarnta Bane

Darth Talon
Talon Karrde

bunch o'Jax Pavans

 

Look through any phonebook and you will find name repetition. I, for one, like it when names, particularly surnames, are reused. We have name repetition, why wouldn't the GFFA?

 

Ganner Rhysode
Ganner Krieg

Valin Draco
Antares Draco (not related)

Mission Vao
not related to:
Shado Vao and Astraal Vao

 

Particularly if there was another Han Solo....

 

Or another R2-D2 and another C-3PO...
These aren't the droids you're looking for...

 

From the "typos that someone refused to acknowledge, so now it's sort of an in-joke" department:

Mrlsst, a planet in the Colonies, home of a race of short bird people, the Mrlssi. Also known for the Mrlsst Trade and Science Academy.
Mrisst, a planet in the Colonies, home of a race of short bird people, the Mrissi. Also known for the Mrisst Trade and Science Academy.

Yeah.

 

I have nothing against reoccurring names, especially if they serve to make the EU look more "realistic" as their use in EGtW etc does. I just think that e.g. using "Marr" in three different capacities (last name, first name, Sith alias) simply doesn't do that. So IMO it has none of the upsides of reusing names, while it has the downside of... I was going to say confusing readers, but we're not that stupid. Of annoying readers like me who actually think they could come up with some original and memorable names again.

So, the Ganner thing is definitely a repetition I like -- especially as Ganner Krieg could so be named after The Legendary Ganner. And just thinking... if Anakin Skywalker was as popular among kids and families during the Clone Wars as the beginning of the Stover RotS novelization claims, I can so see thousands of little Anakins running around the GFFA... becoming Stormtroopers eventually and annoying the hell out of Vader when they're calling each other by their given name on duty... heh. Lots of possibilities there.

 

This conversation made me think of the KOTOR name randomizer, so I launched KOTOR to see what I would get.

Made a male character, hit 'randomize name' several times and came up with the following:

Jinn Lana
Luke Delwynn
Brogus Organis
Aiden Polo
Luke Jast
Garm Baill
Talon Khaal

Did the same with a female character:

Mira Kast
Seraya Organ
Mara Sora
Liah Sanis
Maria Dracken
Leela Baill
Mala Kinstar
Leira Khan
Leira Winstar

 

Sometimes Star Wars names can get a little samey for me at times, in that alot of names have common syntax when an author is just throwing together a C-list character.

Make up a two syllable word, and a one syllable word, or have both of them have two syllables if you're feeling saucy. Don't matter which one is the surname or first name. Throw in a hard consonant somewhere, and BAM. Star Wars name.