Star Wars names...

[neotoma]

Given that political practice on Naboo involves the Queen using a name for her reign that is not her personal or family name, do we think Palpatine's name is likewise a regnal name?

And do Jedi rename the children given to them? I'm wondering where Obi-Wan came up with "Ben", and I have a sneaking suspicion that it was the name he was given at birth.

Comments

[tricksterquinn.livejournal.com]

I, personally, suspect "Palpatine" was a regnal name.

The other possibility for Obi-Wan becoming Ben is... well, little kids sometimes have trouble with certain sounds. What if, when he was young, he had trouble with the "w"? Him saying his own name would become "Obi-an", and that is not a far stretch to "Ben", pronounciation-wise.
Yes, that theory draws a lot on a book I once read wherein the character runs away from home and renames herself Meanne, from Anastacia

[caliburn.livejournal.com]

I always figured it was just a linguistic slur...from "Obi-Wan" to "Old Ben," since most of the poeple who would be talking about him on Tattoine at that period would be doing so less than openly, it would be easy for an onlooker to mishear the name and start spreading rumors about "old Ben Kenobi" the crazy desert hermit.

Palpatine, Darth Sideous...does the Emperor belong to any group that doesn't give out its own holy names? ;) Though, in all seriousness, I figure that even if it isn't an assigned name it's still just a pseudonym...he's got way too much history with the wrong people to enter the galactic spotlight using his real name.

Darth Vader: "So what is you true name, my master?"
Palpatine: "Sue. Explains a lot about how I turned out, doesn't it?"

[murasaki99.livejournal.com]

Palpatine: "Sue. Explains a lot about how I turned out, doesn't it?"

Ah-ha-ha! That *would* explain a lot, wouldn't it? Yep, sent off down the road to perdition by a parent with a sick sense of humor.

But it could've been worse - what if his real name was something fluffy like Launcelot Fotheringay Rabbitvacuum the III? >D

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

But can you imaging Obi-Wan going by that name on Tatooine? After the Temple Massacre, using a name of a famous (and he was quite famous) Jedi even on the Outer Rim would have been a great big red flag for the bounty hunters.

he's got way too much history with the wrong people to enter the galactic spotlight using his real name.

Well, that's what the Darth Sidious psuedonym was for. The Nemoidians certainly didn't know who he was, or they would have fingered him at the end of TPM.

[randomalia.livejournal.com]

I think Palpatine is definitely not his real name, but I don't know that they would give a Senator a new name as they do for the serving Queen.

I suspect the Jedi name their recruits when the child hasn't already been given a name. In the Jedi Apprentice series, for example, there are characters who had family names, like Bruck Chun whose father is Vox Chun. However, many of the Jedi's names are to do with light and goodness and energy, etc, so (although I know this was just the way Lucas wrote them) I tend to think that these are deliberate names given to the younglings that may not otherwise carry a family name. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are fantastic examples because they have a style of name that isn't replicated elsewhere.

And like caliburn suggested above, I think it was a transition from Obi-Wan to Old Ben. :)

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I'm still of the opinion that the EU can be ignored at will, so I don't know if I'd necessarily be bound by what goes on with it.

However, aren't most of the Jedi characters in the JA books who have known family of rather high-class backgrounds? In other words, their parents could have kept them for slightly longer than usual and also make stipulations like 'keeps personal name' when they actually did turn over their child to the Jedi?

Of course, that leads to the idea that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were from families further down on the class hierarchy...

[onci-dium.livejournal.com]

What I awlays wanted to know in that, is that if Obi-Wan was supposed to be going into super seekrit hiding, then why didn't he change his last name as well?

I always try and imagine the conversation about code names and him going
Obi-Wan: "I know! Instead of OBI-WAN Kenobi, I will become BEN Kenobi. Vader will never find me then!"

Yoda: "Unless use the Yellow Pages, he does."


More on topic:
Back in bad old 1977, the SW Encyclopedia had written in their entry about Obi-Wan, that his actual name was Ben Lars and that he was the one from Tatooine. His younger brother was Owen.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was, indeed, his Jedi Name.

GL has since negated this. But I still like it. It works best as an explanation to me.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Oh come on, Vader never noticed Luke, who had applied to the Academy (the Imperial Fleet Academy, one assumes), even though he was using the surname Skywalker *and* living under the roof od Anakin's stepbrother!

Vader is just not good at putting together the puzzle pieces.

I *still* like the idea that Obi-Wan was Ben Lars, and never realized it.

[caliburn.livejournal.com]

I don't know, given the sheer nigh-unimaginable size of the populated galaxy, it might not be so unusual to skip over name coincidences.

Vader: "Find Kenobi!"
Officer: [checks a computer console] "I have multiple matches on the name..."
Vader: "How many?"
Officer: "Only 1.2 million. It's quite uncommon, really."
Vader: "Hmmm...narrow the search. Are any of them near...a Skywalker? Just in case my wife managed to give birth after I killed her and left her unconscious in a collapsing building over an active volcano planet."
Officer: "That narrows the search to...11,236."
Vader: "Oh, bugger it." [chokes the officer]

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

but that's what search algorithms are for. You eliminate all the Kenobis that are female, wrong age, wrong ethnicity and whatever other traits that Obi-Wan is definitely and unchangeably *not* (like 6' tall), and you might have a manageable number to hand off to the Imperial Security Services.

[moojja.livejournal.com]

That is assuming Tatooine has a censor every 10 years. Otherwise, why would you assume anybody know about kenobi, if they don't live on Tatooine.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Uhm, becuse totalitarian governments like to keep track of their citizens. There is a garrison of stormtroopers on Tatooine in ANH -- it's been absorbed into the Empire.

[moojja.livejournal.com]

I thought it was only there for the search?

[nugatorytm.livejournal.com]

Hmm, wasn't there a rumor way back when that Obi-Wan's real name was actually OB-1 Kenobi? Which would have made him a clone?