While we’re used to calling her Padmé Amidala, Queen Amidala, Senator Amidala or anything other than Padmé Skywalker because firstly who’s to say she would have ever taken Anakin’s family name as her own and secondly that marriage was a huge galactic secret, there was another more correct name that the young native of Naboo more correctly went by, and in a new series of articles on StarWars.com Story Group member Emily Shkoukani delves into the deets.
Starting with her name, Amidala is not Padmé’s true surname — rather, it was a name she used during her time as queen of Naboo. This was to protect her true identity, and the identity of her family. Being a young queen at only 14 years old, it was prudent to keep her surname secret for safety concerns, however, this was also a Naboo tradition. This name would live on with her as she closed out her final year as queen and later moved on to become Naboo’s senator, as detailed in E.K. Johnston’s novel, Star Wars: Queen’s Peril, and seen in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Even after death, the name “Amidala” was one that inspired the same tenacity Padmé had. Her former handmaidens, security detail, and others loyal to her in life formed a resistance group in her name called the Amidalans. Featured in Greg Pak’s Star Wars: Darth Vader: Dark Heart of the Sith, the Amidalans believed that their former queen was murdered and they pledged to find the one responsible for her death.
