Is Obi-Wan Chinese?

[sbk1234]

In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the opening action takes place in the nightclub called Club Obi-Wan. Yes, that is obviously a joking reference/homage to the Star Wars movies, also produced by Lucas. I get that.

I'm just wondering, though, as the name Obi-Wan does have a decidedly Chinese sound to it, at least to my untrained ears, is there a Chinese translation for Obi-Wan? Is it even a Chinese name? I understand that for some of the languages used in the Star Wars movies, they'd use words from real Earth languages and throw them together so they'd sound good. I'm wondering if they've done something similar here.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There used to be a theory that Obi-Wan was a clone, and his name was a way of saying "OB-1". That's probably how the name came about. Obviously the plot point was abandoned, but there's lots of characters in SW whose names are like that ("Threepio" = 3PO, "Artoo" = R2, etc.) that it makes some sort of sense.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

I'm actually Vietnamese.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

No kidding! I thought Shinobi must be a Japanese name.

 

[Skywalker]

Obi-Wan Kenobi has a distinctly Japanese sound to it, not Chinese. The character was inspired by Toshiro Mifune's character in The Hidden Fortress (which was also a major inspiration for Star Wars), and Lucas even considered casting Mifune as Kenobi.

 

[Sephiroth]

Mifune as Kenobi would have been epic

 

[Nerys Myk]

Maybe Han Solo is Chinese?

 

[David cgc]

He's japanese. One quarter on his mother's side.

 

[Christopher]

The closest you could get in putonghua (Mandarin Chinese) would be Ou Biwan or Oubi Wan, if you structured it as a given name. But there's no common Chinese surname Ou or Oubi (since of course the family name comes first). It doesn't really sound that Chinese at all. There's a much stronger Japanese influence to the name "Obi-Wan Kenobi," as Skywalker says.

 

[sbk1234]

Interesting. I never thought of a Japanese influence, but when you think about it, I have absolutely no knowledge of either the Japanese or Chinese languages. So go figure.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I remember someone around here thinking that Han Solo's name was Hans Solo, who sounds like he should be played by a chubby little Austrian boy wearing lederhosen.

Randomly plucked from Google, this explanation is as good as any:

Regarding Obi-wan, the Obi is the sash that is worn with the Gi, or martial arts uniform. Since Obi-wan's robe is the outfit of the Jedi, GL's Samurai, this makes good sense, although Obi can also mean any similar sash, worn with a kimono or robe. As Obi-wan wears a robe with a sash, that part is appropriate. Wan also means pale, which Obi-wan is in ANH. Ken is old English for "to know." Tack an obi on the end for symmetry's sake and you have "the wise pale man wearing the sash with his fighting robes."

from http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jspa?threadID=44849

... and, of course, "Vader" is Dutch for "father" as someone in that thread also mentions.

 

[C.E. Evans]

And I always figured that his nickname of "Old Ben" came from people mispronouncing "Obi" for many years on Tatooine...

 

[The Badger]

There used to be a theory that Obi-Wan was a clone, and his name was a way of saying "OB-1".

I might be misremembering here, but wasn't the Kenner action figure actually called 'Ben (OB-1) Kenobi'?

 

[C.E. Evans]

They had "Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi" on the packaging.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

He's japanese. One quarter on his mother's side.

He really thinks so.

 

[Tom]

With Obi Wan.. "Any thing Goes".. LOL Sorry, watched ToD the other day.

 

[Christopher]

I remember someone around here thinking that Han Solo's name was Hans Solo, who sounds like he should be played by a chubby little Austrian boy wearing lederhosen.

Now, Han actually is a Chinese name. In fact, it's the real name of the civilization/ethnic group that we Westerners refer to as "Chinese."

Randomly plucked from Google, this explanation is as good as any:

Regarding Obi-wan, the Obi is the sash that is worn with the Gi, or martial arts uniform. Since Obi-wan's robe is the outfit of the Jedi, GL's Samurai, this makes good sense, although Obi can also mean any similar sash, worn with a kimono or robe. As Obi-wan wears a robe with a sash, that part is appropriate. Wan also means pale, which Obi-wan is in ANH. Ken is old English for "to know." Tack an obi on the end for symmetry's sake and you have "the wise pale man wearing the sash with his fighting robes."

from http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jspa?threadID=44849

Well, if we want to stay Japanese about it, wan can mean a bay, gulf or inlet, or a type of wooden bowl. "Ken" can mean "fist" or "sword," among other things, which is why so many manga/anime action heroes are named Ken or Kenichi or some other variant (also perhaps because of the pun with the Western given name).

... and, of course, "Vader" is Dutch for "father" as someone in that thread also mentions.

Although that's a retcon, since Lucas originally had no intention for Darth Vader to be Luke's father. Revisionist history aside, Lucas probably just chose "Vader" because it sounded like "invader" (akin to the origin of "Darth Sidious" and the various joke Sith Lords in Futurama: "Lethal Inspection").

 

[infinix]

You know, now that you mention it, a very prominent character created by the most famous Chinese Sci-Fi author is named Bo-I-Wan. I never thought about it before....

hmm.....

 

[The Badger]

They had "Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi" on the packaging.

I'm sure it was OB-1. We might have had different packaging here in Britain though.

 

[C.E. Evans]

They had "Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi" on the packaging.

I'm sure it was OB-1. We might have had different packaging here in Britain though.

You might be thinking of the Too-OneBee (21-B) medical droid figure...