That particular, possibly nitpicky part of Han's backstory

I don't see any reason to revisit this in 9. Han probably kept the name because he liked it. Finn liked the name Poe gave him.

 

Agree. They dont have to explain everything. There is a lot of things that its better to keep in a mistery and leave that for your imagination only (like the midichlorians).

 

It was too much like the young Vito at Ellis Island scene in the Godfather II. I don't particularly care but its weird that he later mentions his father, did his father not have a surname either? I took it at first as him being an orphan and literally not knowing his surname.

 

Maybe Han was an orphan for many years, so his surname didn't matter at that point. He didn't have any official ID or anything either.

 

Don't know, but if I were in his shoes:
a) I wouldn't want to be found with my family last name, and as to why keep it?
b) I have a last name from my adopted dad; who was given the nickname "Dath Vader" by all of my friends. I hated him. I had the option to change my name. He threatened to disinherit me. That made me want to change all the more, but I chose not to because the name was a mark, like a scar. It is a part of my identity, all emotions wrapped up around it.

I loved the way his name happened, and I can relate a bit to it. It's a bit punk to keep it, and Han has always hit me as a bit of a punk.

Cheers,
Jayson

 

Or, he really can't use his real last name because it is Palpatine... Don't take this serious please. On the other hand, maybe there's something big about his real last name... But, my opinion is that he kept the name, because it made him notorious throughout the galaxy and Han likes to be in the spotlight.

 

Same. But my issue is that it felt on-the-nose. "You're alone? Oh well, I guess we'll just call you... *wait for it* ...Solo." And as for his real name, I assumed that as a street orphan, he might not have one. They just called him Han.

I don't think hatred of the Empire is a problem here. Han doesn't seem like a person who would care enough to reject a name, because it was given by an Imperial. He's not that sentimental.

Overall, not a big deal.

 

Bob Iger did say we would find out how Han got his name... I'm listening to that guy from now on. He didn't fool with the fans.

 

I think people are missing context here (that is never really emphasized). Once Han is known as Han Solo among the underworld, he's going to keep it. Names mean a lot, not unlike pirates or gangsters. I think his lack of true family background adds to the likelihood of him taking on a pseudonym.

 

Not to mention he smiled when it was given, so he clearly likes it.

Cheers,
Jayson

 

Doesn't bother me at all. It's cheesy, but so are many things in Star Wars.

It's very possible that Han, as a street scum, didn't actually have or know about his last name.

 

I didn't like it because it an unnecessary change to Han's backstory. Furthermore it pretty much hurts Ben Solo as a character... At least for me.

 

It didn’t really bother me at all. He obviously kept it because he liked it. If he truly felt connected to his true last name he would have used it. He obviously had been on the streets for a number of years and felt no connection to his true name. Once his reputation as Solo was solidified he would naturally keep it. My kids liked how he got it. I would suspect that other kids probably did as well. I think we tend to forget these movies are just as much for kids as us older fans.
@NinjaRen I’m curious about your thoughts on why you think this hurts Ben Solo as a character. I’m not sure how the name matters. Who his father and mother was to the galaxy and what they did reflects on his identity more then the actual name. Besides Han had the name Solo for over 40 years. At that point Solo is his name no matter what it might have been before. The galaxy knows of Han as Han Solo. What does it really matter if it originally Han Jones, Williams, Smith or whatever name it might have been.

 

Lots of immigrants get their names handpicked by immigration officers that way. And it becomes their real name. So he's called Han Solo from that point on, it's not like "the name doesn't exists".

I think he kept it because it reinforced that loner self-image he always tried to project, and which is of course a charade. The fact that the name itself was phony to begin with matches that idea.

 

It might me silly but for the longest time the name Solo was like the name Skywalker. A name with meaning. Now Solo is only a throw away line. As soon as Kylo Ren is Ben Solo again, I will remember this change... On the other hand this could be a great opportunity of Ben Solo taking the name of Ben Skywalker.

 

It is a nitpick but certainly a valid one as it turns out that we don't actually know Han's real name, after all these years, when we weren't even wondering about it in the first place. So, to me, it was an entirely unnecessary addition to the movie and, really, served no purpose. It would have been more palatable if Han himself came up with it.

 

I would counter that the name Skywalker meant nothing until Anakin. He gave the name Skywalker meaning. If Anakin was never born it would be just the name of some random slave. With Solo, the importance of name is not it’s origin but what Han made of it. It is the name of one of the greatest smugglers, pilots, rebel leaders in the galaxy. Han made the name mean something. The Solo name resonates across the galaxy because of who Han was not where the name originated.

 

But Skywalker is also that. The history of "great" Skywallkers begins with Anakin. Shmi, the original bearer of this surname, was just an average Joanne. The fact that it was inherited rather than being given doesn't make it any greater. I 100% agree that the whole idea behing Han's surname is stupid but the only way it affects Kylo is that he shares it with his father.

Dang it, you were quicker!

PS. I have no idea if it's relevant in this discussion or not but Adolf Hitler's father's original surname was Schicklgruber.