Star Wars Day: The franchise's influence on baby names

Luke Skywalker is only the third most influential Star Wars character on baby names, new research has revealed. Star Wars has had a major impact on baby name trends (pictured above) Office for National Statistics (ONS) baby name data, analysed by Bitcade – the UK’s largest producer of custom-built arcade machines – reveals how characters from the Star Wars franchise have influenced baby name choices in England and Wales in 2020. Of the 42 names analysed, 15 featured in the baby name data between 1996-2020 and 12 featured specifically in the 2020 list. The data revealed these names are the most influential on baby name trends: STAR WARS RANK (2020)NAMECHARACTERGENDER2020 RANK2020 COUNT1ROSEROSE TICOF618032FINNFINNM737573LUKELUKE SKYWALKERM1095444OWENOWEN LARSM1324185REXCAPTAIN REXM1433926KYLOKYLO RENM2521897LEIAPRINCESS LEIAF3821158LANDOLANDO CALRISSIANM856349OBIOBI-WAN KENOBIM1,0512610REYREYF1,4492111MACEMACE WINDUM1,5481512CORNELIUSCORNELIUS EVEZANM2,4048n/a*PADMEPADME AMIDALAF:0n/a*HANHAN SOLOM:0n/a*BRENMAJOR BREN DERLINM:0 * None in 2020, but name did feature between 1996-2019 Looking at the most recent year, Rose (Tico) topped the list, with 803 baby girls being given the moniker in 2020. Finn and Luke (Skywalker) followed, with 757 and 544 baby boys being given the names respectively in the same year. Owen (Lars), (Captain) Rex, Kylo (Ren), (Princess) Leia, Lando (Calrissian), Obi(-wan Kenobi), Rey, Mace (Windu), and Cornelius (Evezan) also featured in the 2020 list. Unsurprisingly, the likes of Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt, Yoda, and Jar Jar Binks did not feature at all. Other factors also affect the trends of baby names. Click here to find out how nature inspires choice of baby names Jack England, Director at Bitcade commented: “Here at Bitcade, our arcade cabinets have a massive library of retro games with around 2,900 games pre-loaded, but the Star Wars design is amongst our most popular cabinet styles overall. When it comes to choosing a baby name, inspiration can come from anywhere, so with this in mind – and Star Wars Day just around the corner (4th May) – we analysed baby name data from Office for National Statistics (ONS) to discover how Star Wars characters have influenced recent baby name choices in England and Wales. “Our research found that Rose (Tico), Finn, and Luke (Skywalker) had the most significant influence in 2020. Owen (Lars), (Captain) Rex, Kylo (Ren), (Princess) Leia, Lando (Calrissian), Obi(-wan Kenobi), Rey, Mace (Windu), and Cornelous (Evezan) all also featured in the 2020 list”. As well as looking at the 2020 figures in isolation, Bitcade also discovered the franchise’s influence on baby names over the last 20 years (years spanning 2001-2020). The data revealed the following names are the most influential on baby name trends over the previous decades: STAR WARS RANK(2001-2020)NAMECHARACTERGENDER2020 COUNTTOTAL COUNT (2001-2020)1LUKELUKE SKYWALKERM54444,8162OWENOWEN LARSM41825,1183ROSEROSE TICOF80313,8674FINNFINNM75710,7395REXCAPTAIN REXM3922,8026LEIAPRINCESS LEIAF1151,7747KYLOKYLO RENM1894838OBIOBI-WAN KENOBIM262299CORNELIUSCORNELIUS EVEZANM814510MACEMACE WINDUM1512811REYREYF219312HANHAN SOLOM08413LANDOLANDO CALRISSIANM3456=14PADMEPADME AMIDALAF03=14BRENMAJOR BREN DERLINM03 Looking at the 20-year duration, Luke (Skywalker) topped the list, with 44,816 baby boys being given the moniker between 2001-2020. Owen (Lars) and Rose (Tico) followed, with 25,118 baby boys and 13,867 baby girls being given the names respectively in the same duration. Finn, (Captain) Rex, (Princess) Leia, Kylo (Ren), Obi(-wan Kenobi), Cornelius (Evezan), Mace (Windu), Rey, Han (Solo), Lando (Calrissian), Padme (Amidala), and Bren (Derlin) also featured.

STAR WARS RANK (2020)	NAME	CHARACTER	GENDER	2020 RANK	2020 COUNT
1	ROSE	ROSE TICO	F	61	803
2	FINN	FINN	M	73	757
3	LUKE	LUKE SKYWALKER	M	109	544
4	OWEN	OWEN LARS	M	132	418
5	REX	CAPTAIN REX	M	143	392
6	KYLO	KYLO REN	M	252	189
7	LEIA	PRINCESS LEIA	F	382	115
8	LANDO	LANDO CALRISSIAN	M	856	34
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