The name Chewbacca was inspired by Lucas's dog Indiana, while the Wookie race was named after an ad-libbed line from Lucas's first movie THX-1138.
Darth Vader's name actually has its roots in Dutch (meaning 'Dark Father'), while other names tapped strongly into mythology – the name 'Anakin' was developed from a race of giants mentioned in the Bible book of Genesis, while 'Skywalker' is a phrase often used to describe Loki in Norse mythology, and 'Luke' means 'light' in Greek, and has direct connections to the Christian saint. George Lucas named the characters in the original Star Wars trilogy by steering away from science fictional words and instead trying to create ones that sounded indigenous and had a sense of some kind of culture.
How the Star Wars Characters Got Their Names
