One of the low-key craziest things about Star Wars: At one point Darth was the galactic version of Garth. Party on, Wayne!
In the original telling—otherwise known as A New Hope—Darth Vader is someone's first and last name, functionally no different than Luke Skywalker or Luke Duke. We know this for a fact because Obi-Wan addresses him as "Darth" when the two come face-to-face on the Death Star.
You can't win, Darth. Strike me down, and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
After 40+ years of Star Wars, the original meaning of Darth has been scrubbed from our collective memory. We now know Darth is a title bestowed when someone is adopted into the Sith faith/tradition/cult/MLM, a process by which the apprentice is also gifted a new moniker, which becomes their new identity. The films name five Sith: Vader, Maul, Sidious, Tyranus, and Plagueis.1
There's something admittedly cool about Dark Side practitioners sharing a title, and something deeply uncool about a villain whose first name is Darth. That's the kind of name you expect in chintzy, 80s-era sci-fi, the sort of films in which the costumes are a spandex/aluminum foil blend and the rayguns look suspiciously like hair dryers. And though Star Wars has never been that brand of cheese, it is a product of the era, and trace amounts Cheez Whiz can still be found crusted on the seat cushions.
