Captain Phasma: A villain worth naming your child after?

Captain Phasma is a relentless villain who met an untimely fiery end. Would you name your child after Gwendolyn Christie’s Star Wars character?

Captain Phasma is an awful human being who probably deserved the unfortunate circumstances by which she died.

She’s still one of my favorite Star Wars characters of all time.

I don’t condone violence. I don’t think it’s acceptable to quietly “take care of” people who are preventing you from holding the positions of power you desire.

But the first on-screen female stormtrooper is also a survivalist. Her backstory reveals she underwent significant trauma as a kid raised by warriors who fought countless territory wars to the death. The second she found a way out of that situation, she made it so.

I admire that. I think you can admire someone’s intentions even if you don’t agree with the way they were executed … no pun intended.

As much as I love Phasma for some of the things she stands for … I’m not sure I would name another human being after her. I have limits. But that’s just me.

Captain Phasma: A name worth repeating?

In case you’re unsure why our dearest Chrome Dome has been trending for the past few hours, TL;DR: someone is naming their child after Captain Phasma.

Or as the original post clarifies:

“Captain-Phasma. The whole name, like Mary-Kate.”

No one was really expecting anyone to take their appreciation for Phasma quite that far (stop looking at me). Naming a child Phasma could lead to some pretty cute nicknames as she’s growing up. But the whole thing? With a hyphen?

You do you, proud soon-to-be parents. The actual name aside (Captain isn’t even her first name, I mean, come on), honoring the unforgettable female antagonist of the sequel trilogy isn’t the worst you could have done.

(Plenty of people are going to argue with me on that, but I have my reasons.)

Delilah Dawson, the author of Del Rey’s Phasma novel, even responded to the name choice. Apparently her story’s main subject doesn’t mind. Why would she? Villains love naming things after themselves.

And she’s not wrong. Phasma is pretty ruthless — it’s what makes her the high-stakes obstacle Finn must overcome in The Force Awakens to truly sever his First Order ties for good.

The deeper you dig into her backstory, the more you realize she’s motivated almost purely by her survival instincts. And that’s not completely unreliable for certain people.

There are admittedly plenty of things to be upset about when it comes to the Star Wars sequel trilogy, but the gripe I personally choose to cling to is the fact that Phasma should have gotten more screen time across all three movies, and didn’t.

Yes, she’s appeared in a book and several comics, and there are still hopeful fans who refuse to believe she’s actually dead. But she didn’t get the time in front of the camera she deserved. Gwendolyn Christie played her flawlessly. I’d go so far as to petition for a solo Phasma movie, but who has the time?

I may be borderline unhealthfully obsessed with this character, and therefore a little biased in my opinion that there’s nothing wrong with naming your child after a villain if you have decent personal reasons for doing so.

But the hyphen. I just can’t be OK with the hyphen.

Strong female Star Wars characters besides Captain Phasma

There’s the completely understandable argument that you should strongly consider not naming your kid after a murderous, bloodthirsty villain.

The original post cites wanting to name his daughter after “a strong female character from our favorite movies.” Which is absolutely an acceptable reason to name your child after something in the Star Wars universe.

But there are so … so many other options. Even beyond the well-known Leias and Padmés and, at this point, Reys. What about Hera? Sabine? Jyn? Cara! Rose! Want something with a hyphen? Give Bo-Katan Kryze some love because she deserves all of it and more.

It’s not the name itself that’s the problem for most reacting to the original Reddit post: It’s the reasons they offer for choosing it. They mention experience with bullying, the strong female character aspect … but also that they wanted to give their daughter a name that stood out and “make other kids in awe” of her.

They also call Gwendolyn Christie a warrior, which is true on absolutely all fronts, thank you very much. But why not name the girl Gwen? Something about Game of Thrones being awful, it’s a touchy subject, let’s not dwell on it. Star Wars!

They did say they were only 99% sure they were finalizing the name.

There’s still time to reconsider. Just Phasma would do.

What did you think of Captain Phasma’s role in the sequel trilogy? Do you believe she’s really gone forever?