{"id":279313,"date":"2020-12-21T00:25:17","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T05:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=279313"},"modified":"2020-12-21T00:25:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T05:25:17","slug":"judge-me-by-my-name-do-you-the-symbolism-behind-baby-yodas-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/12\/21\/judge-me-by-my-name-do-you-the-symbolism-behind-baby-yodas-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge me by my name do you? The symbolism behind Baby Yoda&#8217;s name"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_279314\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-279314\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/yoda-4708878_960_720.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-279314\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/yoda-4708878_960_720.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/yoda-4708878_960_720.jpg 960w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/yoda-4708878_960_720-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/yoda-4708878_960_720-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-279314\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grogu, better known as Baby Yoda, has a name designed to sound soft and baby-like. (Pixabay photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>Note: The following article contains spoilers about \u201cThe Mandalorian, Season 2.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Names have always played an important role in the <em>Star Wars<\/em> universe. Names like Chewbacca, Wedge Antilles or Bib Fortuna are all otherworldly, and yet somehow they sound perfectly plausible. <em>Star Wars<\/em> names are also often perfect matches for the character. It\u2019s hard to imagine someone named Jabba the Hutt as a slim athlete, or a person named Darth Vader giving gifts to kids on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n<p>Very recently, another name was added to the <em>Star Wars<\/em> canon: Grogu. This was revealed to be the name for the character previously only referred to as The Child or Baby Yoda, in the latest <em>Star Wars<\/em> series, <em>The Mandalorian<\/em>. As with anything related to <em>Star Wars<\/em>, the name sparked controversy online: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/madchenamick\/status\/1335780512250597377\">some people loved it<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gummii_bunnii\/status\/1335690262484377603\">some people hated it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eW7Twd85m2g?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0\" width=\"440\" height=\"260\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">The trailer for Season 2 of Disney\u2019s \u2018The Mandalorian,\u2019 which began streaming in October 2020.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This brings up the interesting question of how a name can fit a character at all? How can sounds be a good or a bad match for a person?<\/p>\n<p>This is something I\u2019ve studied for several years now. The phenomenon of sound symbolism refers to the finding that people will indeed associate certain characteristics to certain sounds. For example, when given the options <em>bouba<\/em> and <em>kiki<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/2041669517724807\">roughly 90 per cent of people around the world<\/a> say bouba is a better word for something round, and kiki is a better word for something spiky.<\/p>\n<div data-react-class=\"Tweet\" data-react-props=\"{&quot;tweetId&quot;:&quot;1323899451350507521&quot;}\"><\/div>\n<p>But it goes beyond shape. People will associate different sizes, colours and even personalities to different words based on their sounds. And, importantly, <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/baby-naming-time-heres-how-people-judge-whats-in-a-name-120726\">they will also do this for names<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So what sorts of things will people associate with a name like Grogu? And are they fitting for Baby Yoda?<\/p>\n<h2>The shape and size of Grogu<\/h2>\n<p>Grogu\u2019s most prominent features are his round head and eyes. Does the name fit his shape? Yes! In general, people will <a href=\"https:\/\/cogsci.mindmodeling.org\/2015\/papers\/0273\/paper0273.pdf\">associate voiced stops (pronounced with vibrating vocal cords), like \/g\/, with round things<\/a>. Even stronger is the association between rounded vowels, like \/o\/ and \/u\/, and round things. One explanation for this has to do with the <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1467-7687.2006.00495.x\">rounded shape of the lips while pronouncing these vowels<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But we can be even more definitive. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jml.2017.09.006\">In 2018, three other researchers and I conducted a study<\/a> in which we had people make judgments on 8,000 non-words. For example, we asked if <em>gragwom<\/em> would be considered a good word for something round. Unfortunately, <em>grogu<\/em> wasn\u2019t one of them. But based on all of those responses, we can extrapolate that there\u2019s a 70 per cent chance a person would say Grogu is a good word for something round.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0126809\">In another study<\/a>, my co-author and I went beyond shape and asked if some personality traits are metaphorically round. Indeed, we found that traits like easygoingness or introversion were considered \u201cround traits,\u201d while aggressiveness or harshness were considered \u201cspiky traits.\u201d Importantly, participants said that round-sounding names were better matches for the round traits. So not only is Grogu a good name for a round person, but also a person with an easygoing and introverted personality.<\/p>\n<p>However, it seems that when coming up with the name, size mattered not, because Grogu is not a small-sounding word. Voiced stops like \/g\/ are <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1023\/A:1008184423824\">associated with larger sizes<\/a>, as are <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41598-017-05965-y\">vowels pronounced with the tongue toward the back of the mouth \u2014 like \/o\/ or \/u\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>One explanation is that <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3758\/s13423-017-1361-1\">these are evolved associations<\/a>. All of these sounds have a relatively lower pitch, which is the sound that larger animals tend to make.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding Grogu, our data would actually predict a 69.85 per cent chance a person would say Grogu is a good word for something large.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, you might be left with the feeling that there is still something baby-like about the name Grogu. That might come from the \/u\/ sound at the end. Some of the first sounds that infants produce are <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-0-387-79061-9_692\">cooing sounds like <em>oo<\/em> or even <em>goo<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>The colour of Grogu<\/h2>\n<p>Colour associations are a bit less straightforward than shape or size. There is evidence that <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/langcog.2019.35\">back vowels (like \/o\/ or \/u\/) are associated with darker colours<\/a>. But there is less evidence linking sounds with particular hues. What evidence there is would suggest <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1163\/22134808-00002581\">vowels pronounced with the tongue high and front in the mouth \u2014 like the \u201cee\u201d sound in See-Threepio (C-3PO) \u2014 are actually the ones associated with green<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s worth mentioning that <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/langcog.2019.35\">words for green in many languages can be traced back to words related to plants<\/a>. For example, <em>green<\/em> traces back to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/green\">word related to growth<\/a>. So, while it\u2019s admittedly a stretch, there is something appropriate in the name for a green character containing the word <em>grow<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div data-react-class=\"InstagramEmbed\" data-react-props=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CIcyziDAo-S&quot;}\"><\/div>\n<h2>Grogu and English<\/h2>\n<p>How does Grogu fit in with English words? The onset <em>gr-<\/em> is a phonestheme in English \u2014 a sound sequence that tends to occur in words with similar meanings. In particular, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/0378-2166(94)90056-6\"><em>gr-<\/em> tends to show up at the start of words related to unpleasantness or complaints<\/a>, like <em>grim<\/em>, <em>grumpy<\/em> or <em>grumble<\/em>. Not so appropriate for good-natured Grogu!<\/p>\n<p>Another fact is that it\u2019s rare for an English word to end with a consonant followed by the letter \u201cu\u201d \u2014 words that do are typically borrowed from other languages, like <em>haiku<\/em> or <em>guru<\/em>. It\u2019s also uncommon for North American names to end in \u201cu.\u201d Of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssa.gov\/OACT\/babynames\/index.html\">1,000 most popular baby names for boys in the U.S. in 2019<\/a>, only three ended in \u201cu\u201d \u2014 Beau (132nd), Keanu (630th) and Tru (926th). And Beau rhymes with <em>doe<\/em>, so technically only Keanu and Tru count here. This might actually work for Grogu, and help make the name feel more unfamiliar.<\/p>\n<h2>The verdict?<\/h2>\n<p>Grogu is a decent name for Baby Yoda. It\u2019s a good name for someone round and easygoing, it ends in a baby-like sound and it has a decidedly non-English spelling.<\/p>\n<p>But what if fans wanted something a little more suitable? I looked through our 8,000 non-words for one that would be judged a good match for something round, small and spiritual. The best option? Melion (MEL-EE-UN). I\u2019ll leave it to the comments section to decide if that\u2019s better than Grogu, but I think <em>Melion and The Mandalorian<\/em> has a nice ring to it!<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/151642\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/david-sidhu-775399\">David Sidhu<\/a>, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Psychology and Language Sciences, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/ucl-1885\">UCL<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article is republished from <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/judge-me-by-my-name-do-you-the-symbolism-behind-baby-yodas-name-151642\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Note: The following article contains spoilers about \u201cThe Mandalorian, Season 2.\u201d Names have always played an important role in the &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":279314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-david-sidhu-ucl","mauthors-the-conversation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279315,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279313\/revisions\/279315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}