From ‘dada’ to Darth Vader: What we name our fathers shows we all hail from same well

MOVIE LEGEND HAS it that the identity of Luke Skywalker’s father was always hiding in plain sight — well, at least through a subtle naming clue. “Darth Vader” does, after all, have a distinct paternal ring to it linguistically. Indeed, had the big reveal been “I am your fader” it would have made a nice play on the heavy-breathing villain’s name with a nod to an old Dutch term for “father.”

The true origin story of Vader’s moniker is not as cool as the myth. But as someone who studies the origins of words, I see the story providing an example of something that is real: the universality of the names used for fathers across all languages.