Name Meaning

"Obi is an Ibo word (Nigerian) meaning heart, also used to designate the main dwelling of a compound. Wan is a Chinese word meaning gentle. Ken is Japanese for strong. I don't know if it's intentional, but it's interesting nontheless."

So, Obi-Wan Kenobi is "Gentle Heart, Strong Heart". Interesting.

A "dagoba" is a "dome-shaped structure built over relics of Buddha or some Buddhist saint." I can't help but relate that to Dagobah. Especially since Yoda's hut is a 'dome-shaped structure', and it could be said to be 'built over relics of the Jedi' (or relics of the Force).

 

Padma which of course =Padme means lotus, as has been mentioned before. And what is a lotus? Well, it's a flower of course. In certain mythologies it's held sacred. It's also said to cause states of delirum and dreams. It's also identified as a beautiful flower that blooms, then dies.

 

I always assumed Orn Free Taa was derived from Orin Hatch senator of the free state of Utah. Since it's pretty well known politically speaking that Lucas dislikes politicians, and it seems mostly Republicans.

Also, Lott Dodd (Republican - Trent Lott, Democrat - Christopher Dodd) and Nute Gunray (Republicans - Newt Gingrich/Ronald Reagan) are derivations of politicians' names.

I haven't figured out any more than that.

I always assumed Passel Argente might be producer Joel Silver. (Argentium being silver)

Yes. I'm wierd like that.

 

I-Poodoo said: "Orn Free Taa-George was looking at a box of Corn Fritters and inspiration hit...Orn Free Taa...Corn Fritter...Orn Free Taa"

MeBeJedi said: "Better yet, maybe Lucas just put a spoonful of Corn Fritters in his mouth when someone asked "Hey George, what are you eating?""

That one's my favorite!!

Chewbacca - I don't know... "Chewing tobacco?"

 

According to the Behind The Magic CD-Rom, R2-D2 doesn't actually come from Reel 2 Dialogue 2 after all, it's just a combination of letters and numbers they thought sounded good, as is C-3P0.

 

Speaking of the droids (and perhaps I should create a new thread on this), I've often wondered about C-3PO's name. I seem to recall that his design is the 3PO design and C is his designation. So does that mean that there are only 26 3POs in the entire galaxy (not that I'm complaining, of course)? Are there more than 26 letters in the GFFA alphabet? Or, alternatively, after they run out of single letters can they use A1, A2, A3 or AA, AB and AC, such as AC-3PO? Finally, if I haven't lost you yet, what organization coordinates names? If there is none, couldn't you have multiple C-3POs?

 

Here's some of the possible meanings behind sith names:

Maul - from the word "maul" meaning to brutally attack.

Sidious - from the word "insidious" meaning characterized by treachery or slyness, crafty, wily.

Bane - from the word "bane" meaning the cause of distress, death or ruin.

Vader - possibly from "invader".

Palpatine - even though the word "palpable" means easily noticeable, it may have been used as an oximoron to Palpatine's character, who in the PT is unnoticed by the Jedi as a Dark lord of the sith.

 

I know the name Wookiee came from a sound editing session in which someone said "I hit a wookiee," or the like, referring to some weird sound he came across. Lucas heard it, and liked it. That was in his biography.

 

I've always liked to think that "Darth Vader" came from "dark father".

How about Porkins? He was rather chubby.

 

Vader in dutch or german means father...i'm not quite sure

I know it's one of those languages.

 

I'd always liked the name Han Solo. "Solo" means alone in Spanish, and I've always wondered if this is connected to his character as he is a loner (well, him and Chewie are loners )

Of course, in one of my RPG sessions, a friend of mine came up with Mr. Han Acompañado. Acompañado means "with somebody."

 

Also, "Obi" means a traditional sword belt worn by Samurai in Japanese, but I like the "Gentle Heart, Strong Heart" rendition better (also know that "Ken" can mean a sword, strike, fist, or other attack in Japanese depending on its content)

Love this thread, any others?

 

Padma which of course =Padme means lotus, as has been mentioned before. And what is a lotus? Well, it's a flower of course. In certain mythologies it's held sacred. It's also said to cause states of delirum and dreams. It's also identified as a beautiful flower that blooms, then dies.

Lets Look at the Implications for the pT:

1) We know that Anakin has been dreaming about Padme non-stop in between tpm & aotc

2) "beautiful flower that blooms" ie. or gives birth to Luke & Leia, then dies. possible clue for ep iii as to fate of Padme, and remember we are in non-spoiler zone.

 

"Boba" is arabic for "Father".

 

Anyone who says STAR WARS is for children to
read these threads, I am continually amazed how far Lucas thinks these things, because they are definetly not coincidences.

 

I think the name Palapatine is connected to the Palatine Hill that the Imperial Palace was built on in Rome. In the AOTC commentary, George Lucas compares the loss of democracy in the Republic to the loss of democracy in the Roman Republic to Gaius Julias Caesar's autocracy, the downfall of the struggling French Republic before Napoleon's ascendancy as emperor, and the rise of Hitler in the struggle Weimar Republic in Germany. I think the comparison to the Roman Empire signals that Palpatine's name is related to the Palatine. Think about it. There was a Roman Senate, and the Republic has a senate. There's not much difference between the corrupt senate of the Old Republic and the Roman Senate domiated by wealthy arisocrats. A lot of senators hated the emeperors throughout Roman history. The only difference between Augustus and Palpatine was that Augustus tried to disguise the fact that he was in charge by getting the senate's approval for everything he did. Palpatine didn't bother, and they started to support the Rebellion, which was why he dissolved it in ANH. I assume that that was why he dissolved it, since that Imperial officer with Vader talks about the Rebellion getting sympathy from the senate, as well as General Motti's statement that the Rebellion would continue to gain support in the "Imperial Senate" just before Tarkin and Vader show up with the announcement that the Emeperor has dissolved it "permenantly."

 

SITH= In Scottish and Celtic mythology there 'SIDHE' pronounced 'SITH' and these are 'dark faeries'.

The Fury: sorry to disappoint you, but you are incorrect:

The Sidhe (pronounced "SHEE" not[/i] "SITH" are all fae creatures. there are two courts, the Seelagh and the Unseelagh, who work in opposition to one another. They aren't specifically light or dark. In Gaelic the word "sith would also be pronounced "Shee" but I think that's a very tenuous connection, especially in light of the lack of other Gaelic or Celtic language source material for Lucas' work. His mythic material tends to be more Hellenist and Romanic, with Jute/Saxon colorations, than at all Celtic.

For another theory on the linguistic possible roots behind Darth Vader's name, the word "dearth" means lacking, or something missing, as in, There is a dearth of Celtic refences in Star Wars. It is possible that Darth Vader specifically means "lacking a father".

I personally believe Vader comes from (in)vader, just as Sidious comes from (in)sidious.


*Derisa*

 

The german word for father according to my german grandmother is actually Vater.

 

Nobody's mentioned Tyranus? My guess would be that it comes from 'tyrant,' and I know some time ago I found either that 'Tyranus' was a Latin word or there was a Latin word eerily similar to it...

I believe I read on a baby name site that 'Leia' means 'meadow.' I doubt that this means anything, but it might be a reference to Alderaan. Of course, I'm really stretching for that one. Another site I just checked says that Leia comes from Hebrew and means 'weary,' which makes sense.

Yes, this is EU, but I believe that 'Jacen' is a form of 'Jason,' and (according to babynames.com) that means 'healer' (it comes from Greek). 'Jaina' could derive from 'Jane,' which is an English name meaning 'gracious' or 'merciful.'

 

As an Israeli I can confirm the Mara Jade thing.
Mara means bitter and is in the feminine form.

 

and then old georgie uses the name ELAN SLEAZEBAGGANO for that kid that sells the deathsticks in AOTC. come on george you can do better than that

 

^^ No, he can't.
See, GL decided for some reason that everyone in the nightclub, and in the PT movies as a whole, had to have a name. That's the kind of stuff he comes up with.

In the OT, most aliens and officers did not have names. They were added to by the EU over 20 years.

 

Anyone else realize this one:
Dark Lord of the Sith
I find that very interesting.

 

"Anyone else realize this one:"

Not the people who have read this whole thread...

 

Yes, Vader is dutch for father.

Pure coincidence I think. It didn't spoil the ESB surprise for me.

Also... Kessel is a small town in the south of Holland.