Star Wars: A New Hope introduces the iconic Jed Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi as Ben Kenobi. But clear reasoning for the name swap from movies set early in the timeline has never been given. While some may assume it's used to hide his identity, keeping "Kenobi" more or less rules out that idea. So, without a clear answer, let's explore why Obi-Wan would choose to go by Ben.

After the Jedi purge in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan goes into hiding near the Lars homestead on Tatooine to watch over Luke. And without having known the Jedi in the past, Luke knows him as nothing but "Old Ben," which is the name he uses around Mos Eisley and its surrounding areas.

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Luke and Obi-Wan in the desert

And while Ben may seem like a random name to choose, it's actually not the first time Obi-Wan went by it. During Season 4 of the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the Jedi unveil a plot to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine by a hired criminal called Moralo Eval. In an attempt to get closer to Eval, Obi-Wan volunteers to fake his death and disguise himself as another criminal named Rako Hardeen. He successfully gained Eval's trust while in prison and found a hidden transmitter to report back to Yoda and Mace Windu. However, during his transmission, he says, "This is Ben. I've found the transmitter."

So, even though he was disguising himself as Rako Hardeen, Obi-Wan uses Ben as a codename to talk to the Jedi, meaning he adopted the name long before Star Wars: A New Hope. Yet, despite this nice call-back to the Original Trilogy, nothing further is explained about why he chose that name. Of course, that hasn't stopped fans from coming up with theories.

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Obi-Wan and Yoda in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

One of the most prominent theories is that Ben is Obi-Wan's actual birth name--  because the Jedi are taken at a young age to begin training, the name change could have been part of his fresh start. And while this would explain his attachment to the name, another theory is that the name was chosen because of how it sounds -- when Luke refers to him as "Old Ben," one can argue it sounds similar to Obi-Wan.

But just because nothing has yet to be confirmed about the name, does that mean that the gap will never be filled. With the upcoming Kenobi series filling in the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, fans are sure to learn a lot more about the Jedi Knight in the near future.

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