Star Wars Confirms REAL Secret of Han Solo's Last Name

The prequel movie may have shown how Han Solo got his last name, but Star Wars fans who felt disappointed by the throwaway origins are in luck, because the secret meaning of the "Solo" name has now been revealed.

When the Solo movie finally arrived in theaters, it would be an understatement to say the results weren't what Disney had hoped. After a troubled production, making a film many Star Wars fans opposed on principle, and releasing it just months after Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the odds were stacked against the smuggler. Yet the decision to show how Han Solo got his last name was a perfect symbol of what many fans disliked. For some, it went as far as dishonoring the legacy of the character. For Disney, the response was strong enough to change their plans for Star Wars spinoffs.

Hopefully now that the alternate, and apparently REAL meaning of Han's made-up last name has been explained, fans might be able to forgive. Or at least appreciate how the "Solo" name actually fit his character perfectly.

This Page: The "Real" Meaning of Han Solo's Name
Next Page: Does Han Solo's Name Change Save The Movie?

How Han Gets Named "Solo" in The Movie

In case some have only heard about the "joke" of Han Solo's name being introduced in Solo, or those who saw the film may have forgotten it/blocked it out of their minds, the moment is a surprisingly short one. As Han and his young partner/girlfriend Qi'ra are trying to escape from the Corellian slums, Qi'ra is snatched up, leaving Han to escape on his own. Catching sight of an Imperial Navy recruitment center, he rushes over to sign up before the security forces searching for him drag him back to a certain death.

The Navy seems his best path back to Qi'ra, but when asked for his name, Han can only give his first. The recruiter asks for Han's last name - the family, or people to whom he belongs - but he can only respond that "I have no people." After a moment's thought, the recruiter proclaims the young man is "Solo" as he punches in the improvised surname.

The Real Meaning of The "Solo" Last Name

The movie leaps forward three years' time in the film from there, when Han has been recruited into and washed out of the Imperial Navy already. Luckily, that story is finally being told in Robbie Thompson and Leonard Kirk's Han Solo: Imperial Cadet comic series. Following Han from his first days of training to be an Imperial soldier, the comic shows Han is just as smart-mouthed in adolescence as he is in adulthood. Naturally, his disrespect to Imperial authority leads his whole squad to be punished - which the squad passes on to Han. And in the process, reveals why the Empire REALLY named him "Solo."

According to the main bully of the unit, the Empire gave Han that surname not as a placeholder, but as a brand. It would mark him as an outsider, a lowly commoner, and somebody that had nobody behind them - so that every other Imperial recruit and officer from then on would know it, the second they heard of him. If he was lucky enough to survive training, the Empire would have stamped their disapproval on him, permanently. So no, it wasn't just a throwaway joke... but will it convince fans that the movie's story is better than they gave it credit?

Page 2 of 2: Does Han Solo's Name Change Save The Movie?

Does The Change Make Solo a Better Movie?

Firs things first: it would be hard for anyone to make the case that this extra layer of meaning is worse, and not an improvement on the Solo reveal. Depending on how individual fans interpret the scene, it may not even be a retcon or change after the fact. The Imperial recruit thought of a name to mean Han was "alone" or "has nobody." The comic highlights that it didn't become a regular name from there on out, but one that others would interpret in that exact same way. The change may ask fans to adjust their perspective more than it's changing the actual Star Wars canon, but it confirms that the Imperial recruitment officer did Han no favors.

Whether viewers are fond of Solo or rallying against it, some will argue that the movie's origin is what matters, and what did the damage. And no comic book trying to further explain the decision is going to matter. But if you revisit the story of Solo with this new detail in mind - that Han wasn't just on his own against an indifferent galaxy, but permanently branded by it as something to be made an outsider - it doesn't just make Solo a better movie. It makes him a better character.

How it Makes Han Solo a Better Character

Regardless of the criticism of how the film was made, or the nuances of the story it tells, Solo does lay the foundations of the young man who would grow to be Han Solo, hero of the Rebellion. Fans always assumed Han's story was a tragic one to start, or at least less than glamorous, but the movie sure piles it on. Born with nothing, raised as a street rat, and threatened with beatings and death, Qi'ra is obviously the only thing keeping Han from being truly alone. That's not a secret, since it's what makes losing her (at the beginning of the film, and again at its end) all the more heartbreaking, and why her betrayal permanently turns him away from family or friends.

But make that Imperial recruiter's choice a cruel one, and it clicks more of his character's journey into place. After all, Han never changed it, never letting himself forgot the message sent to him by his Corellian gang bosses, or his Imperial superiors. Rewatching the movie, the most tragic result of this change is that when given the name, the brand, the label, Han is determined to prove it wrong. He has no people, but he has Qi'ra. Which turns her eventual betrayal into not only a personal one, but proof that the Empire, the Corellian gangs, and everyone else were always right about him.

Again, many will never support Solo since it answers questions they never wanted answered, or feel didn't have to be. After all, Han is basically the same person he always was when met in the first Star Wars. A loner, trusting only Chewie, and not wanting to join any noble crusade. But understanding why will always be a must-know question for fans. If the Solo movie came up short in explaining the true meaning, then the comic has delivered.

Han kept the "Solo" name for a reason. To others of consequence in the Galactic Empire, it told them he had no people, and no place. Han embraced those truths to spite the very authorities who gave him that brand... until Luke, Leia, and the Rebellion gave him all of that, and more.

Han Solo: Imperial Cadet #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.