From its humble beginnings in 1977 to its current larger-than-life status, Star Wars has grown into a global phenomenon, crossing over from a geek favorite into the mainstream. As such, the film has had plenty of cultural influence in our lives, especially in the baby naming department. Last year, Quartz analyzed the Social Security Administration’s statistics on baby names in the United States and determined that “after each Star Wars film comes the Star Wars babies.” Ahead of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the Peruvian Registro Nacional de Identificación y Estado Civil (RENIEC) also looked into its records to see how many hardcore Star Wars parents existed within the country. Turns out, there’s a decent amount.
Since the beginning of the franchise, nearly 1,500 Peruvian babies received a Star Wars name. Most of them – 533 to be exact – are named after side bun master Princess Leia. I’d like to think it’s because people felt inspired by her general ass kicking. Coming in second place is Han with 365 names.
The data revealed some interesting finds – like how the Hispanicized version of R2-D2, Arturito, also had an impact on Peruvian parents. Or that even before Rogue One’s release, peopled named their children after Cassian Andor, Diego Luna’s character. (8 got the name Andor, and 4 got the name Cassian.) There’s not enough people named after Darth Vader for my liking, but shout out to the three named after the Sith Lord.
But even greater than people naming their babies after Star Wars may be that RENIEC geeks over the franchise. After sharing a post about the names on Facebook, a commenter asked the agency to tag Obi Wan Kenobi. The agency took the opportunity to flex its Star Wars knowledge. “We cant: our [Jedi] mind tricks and tagging only works on the weak-minded,” RENIEC wrote. “And the force is strong with him.”
[H/T AFP]