A name can paint a very specific picture of a person.
Iggy Pop might not have the same aura if he still went by his birth name of James Newell Osterberg Jr., for example, while wrestler Christopher Keith Irvine surely has more star power by virtue of adopting the name Chris Jericho.
Similarly, when it comes to fiction, the name Keyser Söze carries a level of power that other names do not, while Breaking Bad saw Walter White’s transformation go hand in hand with his adoption of the mononym Heisenberg.
And it’s not just humans who are looked at differently based on their names.
Doesn’t look like a James, does he?
Part of the charm of the Star Wars franchise comes from the unique names which unmistakably belong in that world.
Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa realistically couldn’t be part of any other cinematic universe, while characters in the newer films – such as Poe Dameron and Maz Kanata – instantly fit those names.
And then we have the Porgs, as well as the robotic characters, where BB-8 follows on from the likes of R2-D2 and C-3PO in the original films.
However, for a long time the droid in Episodes VII and VIII was going to go by a very different name.
BB-8, formerly known as Snow Girl
Neal Scanlan, who has worked as a creature designer on The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, has admitted that, not only was BB-8 originally not BB-8, but the droid was originally not going to be male.
“BB-8 started out as Snow Girl or Globe at one time,” Scanlan told Endor Express.
“There were four or five names for BB-8. BB-8 didn’t come until VERY, very late, and that’s probably for very good reasons as he’s such an important character.”
If you were thinking, “Wait, is it canon that BB-8 is male? Surely the Snow Girl name suggests otherwise,” we have some news for you.
BB-8 or adidas Jabulani?
In a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly back in 2015, Scanlan cleared it all up… sort of.
“I’m still not sure, dare I say, whether BB-8 is male or female,” he admitted at the time, though it was suggested that the creature is referred to as a ‘he’ by those on-set.
“BB-8 was female in our eyes. And then he or she became male. And that’s all part of the evolution, not only visually, but in the way they move, how they hold themselves.”
For now, though, we just want to know what the other one or two potential names were.
(Images: Rex)
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