Made much more sense in the original EU for Luke to name his son after Ben since he was Luke's first master and had such a huge impact on him. Leia barely knew him from what we see in ANH, and Han never got along with him. It seems it would make more sense for Leia to want to name him after her adopted or biological fathers...but I guess the writers wanted to pay homage to the EU without having an identically named character. In-Universe though, what is the reasoning behind this? That they just did it as a favour to Luke?
Maybe they knew he was Force sensitive and wanted to name him after a good Jedi? And I think Leia did know him, or at least knew of him, since she sent Artoo to him. And while Han may have scoffed at Ben, I don't think he actually disliked Ben at all. It was just more of his cocky, swaggering persona.
It doesn't really surprise me too much that Leia and Han would want to honor Ben. He played a significant role in their lives and helped Luke find his destiny. If you are going to name your likely FS child after an honorable Jedi, besides Luke, then good ol' Ben instantly comes to mind. I would absolutely agree that it makes more sense for Luke to name his own son Ben, as we did see in the EU. But it would seem perhaps Luke never had a son.
Because Leia knew her son would be a Jedi, named him after Obi Wan because he was a model of a great Jedi according to Bail Organa, and "Ben" fits better with Alderaan/Corellia naming habits.
1. Without Ben Kenobi, Leia and Han would never have met. 2. He sacrificed his life so they could escape the Death Star. 3. He was one of the most famous and well-regarded Jedi of the Clone Wars. 4. It's an immediately-recognizable name that Harrison Ford can shout at the beginning of that Bridge scene. (Just a bit tongue-in-cheek, but seriously...I can't speak for anyone else but hearing that name did give me a bit of a jolt, in a good way...the way another...aside from perhaps "Anakin" or "Jacen"...really wouldn't have). From an out-of-universe perspective it just would've felt strange if the name was something all-new, and speaking for myself the most likely in-universe alternative ("Bail" for Bail Organa) just...wouldn't carry as much weight. "Jacen" would have been great for Old-EU fans, but would've opened up a whole different can of worms and wouldn't connected with the majority of the moviegoers...who aren't Old-EU fans. That and I always thought it was a little weird and too pat that Han and Leia named one of their kids "Anakin." Even if Leia "forgave" him eventually, neither of them knew the "good' Anakin Skywalker enough to honor him in that fashion.
Harrison Ford's elder sons are named Ben and Willard. There are SW characters in the OT by those same names! I suspect that Ben Ford might have been another layer of why they called the character Ben Solo, besides the name having been previously used for Obi-Wan Kenobi. In-universe, he was named for Obi-Wan, out-of-universe, Obi-Wan ended up with one of Harrison's sons' names. And I can't help but notice a slight feeling that Malcolm Ford's troubles (as well as being an imperfect father--see the breakup of Harrison and Melissa that happened at the same time) might be where all the stuff about Harrison being able to relate to some parts of the new developments with Han is coming from. There have been some major comments recently that Han Solo was modeled perhaps a little too close for comfort on Harrison (all the jokes about him being in it for the money included!).
I thought that was a little weird to. It more likely meant as a throwback to the old EU more than it is meant to make sense. That being said, I can see Leia suggesting it, since she did at least know 'of' Obi-Wan and that he died for their sake's on the first Death Star. And I can see Han being like oh yeah I remember that old fossil, why not?
Wow, I had no idea Harrison had a son named Ben. That would certainly help him get into the emotional setting of the scene.
Obi-Wan kinda sorta sacrificed himself to save Han, Luke and Leia on the Death Star. So, yeah. Not a surprising choice at all.
When she needed someone the most, she reached out to Kenobi, so it does not surprise me that she wanted to name her son after him. Anakin would have drawn parallels with the book series they are trying to avoid and so I think Ben would be the next logical choice
Maybe Luke married Ben's daughter and they were, at one time, all one big happy family until things went terribly wrong. Luke marries Mara Kenobi. I can see it now!!!
It would have been cool to hear Harrison shout out Anakin in that scene(not necessarily cooler than Ben), but it probably would have seemed like Han and Leia were just asking for trouble by naming their son Anakin. (A lot of fans suspected that Anakin Solo was going to turn to the dark side because he was named after his grandfather.)
