I’m sure you know that Star Wars — often considered to be one of the greatest science-fiction movies of all time — gave boosts to the baby names Luke and Leia (pronounced LAY-uh) back in the late ’70s:
| Boys named Luke | Girls named Leia | |
| 1979 | 2,471 (rank: 110th) | 118 |
| 1978 | 1,882 (rank: 139th) | 156 (rank: 911th) |
| 1977 | 1,241 (rank: 190th) | 98 |
| 1976 | 914 (rank: 223rd) | 21 |
| 1975 | 779 (rank: 256th) | 20 |
But did you know that the movie also influenced a handful of expectant parents to name their babies Darth?
Yup — as in Darth Vader. As in the Jedi-gone-bad who was the main antagonist of the original Star Wars trilogy. (The character was physically portrayed by English bodybuilder David Prowse, but voiced by American actor James Earl Jones.)
The first Star Wars film was released in 1977, and that’s the year we start seeing babies named Darth in the U.S. baby name data:
- 1979: 7 baby boys named Darth
- 1978: 13 baby boys named Darth
- 1977: 9 baby boys named Darth [debut]
- 1976: unlisted
- 1975: unlisted
But the Force wasn’t strong with this one. The name didn’t stay in the data long enough to see the release of the second film, The Empire Strikes Back, in 1980.
So where did the character name “Darth Vader” come from?
After discarding the early name “Dark Water,” George Lucas played around with various surnames (including Vader, Wilson, and Smith) for the “tall, grim-looking general.” He eventually settled upon the combination “Darth Vader” in 1972.
Interestingly, the German/Dutch surname Vader happens to mean “father” or “senior.” Perhaps this definition inspired Lucas to turn Darth Vader into Luke’s father — a plot twist that didn’t come along until in 1978, in the second draft of the script for The Empire Strikes Back.
Decades after the first Star Wars films came out, though, Lucas had this to say about the origin of Darth Vader’s name:
“Darth” is a variation of dark. And “Vader” is a variation of father. So it’s basically Dark Father.
It does seem like Darth was based on the word “dark,” but it’s hard to know if Lucas really took the definition of Vader into account back in the early 1970s, long before the character was anyone’s father.
What are your thoughts on the name Darth?
Sources:
- Darth Vader – Wikipedia
- Edwards, Gavin. “George Lucas and the Cult of Darth Vader.” Rolling Stone 2 Jun. 2005.
- Tyler, Adrienne. “Star Wars Misconception: Darth Vader Doesn’t Mean Dark Father.” ScreenRant 10 Aug. 2019.
- Hanks, Patrick. (Ed.) Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- SSA
Image: Screenshot of Star Wars
[Latest update: Feb. 2025]