List of references to Earth in Star Wars

Despite being explicitly set in a galaxy far, far away, various sources have established what appear to be connections between the Star Wars universe and the real world (i.e. Earth). This page attempts to make a List of references to Earth in Star Wars.

Many of these examples, of course, could be the result of clever, multi-layered, Tolkien-style "translations" from Galactic Basic Standard to English.

Appears on their own
These species appear on screen "as themselves", or are mentioned in text without qualifiers (i.e. as "Turtles" rather than "Space Turtles".)
 * Cats
 * Dinosaurs (of Trammis III)
 * Dogs
 * Ducks
 * Horses and ponies (seen on Naboo as statues and on the Forest Moon of Endor as Bordoks.)
 * Humans
 * Owls (on the Forest moon of Endor)
 * Pterosaurs
 * Rabbits

Has namesakes appear
These animal species have something named after them in the Star Wars galaxy (like a starship, or another animal), but may not exist itself.
 * Barnacles
 * Bats
 * Bears
 * Beetles
 * Boars
 * Cobra
 * Crows
 * Eels
 * Falcons
 * Fleas
 * Frogs
 * Hawks
 * Hound dogs
 * Lizards
 * Mice
 * Moles
 * Moths
 * Panthers
 * Pigeons
 * Piranha
 * Rats
 * Ravens
 * Salamanders
 * Shrikes
 * Slugs
 * Snakes
 * Spiders
 * Squid
 * Tigers
 * Vultures
 * Wasps
 * Wolves
 * Zebras

Mythical creatures
These creatures exist on Earth only in legend, but their names, at least, are reused in the Star Wars galaxy.
 * Basilisks
 * Chimaerae
 * Dragons
 * Gorgons
 * Hydrae
 * Jackelopes
 * Manticores
 * Airen Cracken was nicknamed "Kracken" by his Imperial foes,
 * The Alliance Starbird was commonly described as a Phoenix.

Plants

 * Dandelions
 * Most plants seen in Naboo, Tatooine, Kashyyyk, or Forest Moon of Endor location shots are arguably "playing themselves" on screen.

Food and drink

 * Blue milk
 * Hot chocolate
 * "Trix"-brand breakfast cereal is referenced in the description of the constellation known as the Silly Rabbit.  This does not establish its existence, but it  does establish the existence of raspberries, oranges, and lemons.

Names
These characters have first or last names which wouldn't be out of place in an Earth phone book (or in some cases, first and last names.)
 * Ana
 * Barney
 * Bobby
 * Burtt
 * Carl
 * Cecil
 * Dergar Chester
 * Tsui Choi
 * Hanna Ding
 * Hanna Doshun
 * Falcon
 * Jake Farrell
 * Niles Ferrier
 * Samuel Tomas Gillespie
 * Simon Greyshade
 * Josef Grunger
 * Bob Hudsol
 * Jade
 * Wes Janson
 * Skorg Jameson
 * Dexter Jettster
 * Kyle, Patricia and Morgan Katarn
 * Keith
 * Ken
 * "Ben" Kenobi
 * Danielle Kieran
 * Larry the Shriek
 * Beru and Owen Lars
 * Liam
 * Lucien
 * Casandra Mateil
 * Jasper McKnives
 * Pharl McQuarrie
 * Julias Narn
 * Jocasta Nu
 * Alfonso Luiz Obota
 * Otto
 * Nile Owen
 * Nick Rostu
 * Helena Shan
 * Silas
 * Simon
 * Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker and Ben Skywalker
 * Shawn Valdez
 * Kelly Vermillion
 * Lt. Williams
 * Alexandra Winger
 * Xiong Wong
 * Demetrius Zaarin

Places
These planets or other locations have names which bear a close resemblance to places on Earth.
 * Aargau
 * Dor
 * Chenini
 * Chiron (mythological reference)
 * Endor
 * Ibleam
 * Megiddo
 * Salisbury
 * Seoul
 * Tatooine = Tataouine
 * Thule (also a mythological reference)
 * Zug

Real astronomical objects
Despite being real astronomical objects in Earth's neighborhood, these names appear in Star Wars sources.
 * Altair
 * Antares
 * Cygnus
 * Rigel

It should be specifically noted that, contrary to some fanonical ideas, Coruscant cannot be a futuristic Earth. While Earth is far from our galaxy's core, is the third planet from the Sun, and has only one moon, Coruscant is close to the galactic core, is the sixth planet in the Coruscant system, and has multiple moons.

Historical figures
Some real-world historical figures are referenced in the Star Wars galaxy.
 * Ferdinand Magellan

Science fiction stories set in our galaxy
The settings of other science fiction stories are references in Star Wars sources.


 * E.T.
 * Isaac Asimov's Foundation series
 * Douglas Adams' Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy
 * Lord of the Rings
 * Solanus is very similar to the planet in Solaris, and may originally have been referred to as Solaris.
 * Star Trek (the Original Series): "The Tholian Web"
 * Dune

See also Book of Imperial Shuttle Plans: Cygnus Spaceworks, a non-canonical work sometimes mistaken for canon. This piece of fanart makes extensive references to other science fiction franchises.

Language

 * Knight Hammer's name is a pun which only works in English.
 * Teräs Käsi is Finnish.
 * X-wings and Y-wings resemble the English letters they are named for, but no Aurebesh letters.
 * Lambda-class shuttles look like the letter Lambda in the Greek alphabet (though other shuttles with Greek letter names don't look like their namesakes).
 * Dexter Jettster, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, and an unnamed trooper from the 501st Legion all say "Damn", and Han Solo refers to "Hell" (Corellian legends have seven). Are they referring to a general concept of damnation found in many religions, or a specific religious belief shared with an Earth religion?

Technology
Certain classes of inventions are likely to be reinvented in a galaxy far, far away. When technology gets overly specific, however, suspension of disbelief is strained.
 * E-mail

Units of measurement

 * Many in-universe sources use the metric system. The meter was originally based on the size of the Earth.
 * Light years and parsecs are likewise based on the orbit of the Earth.

Non-canonical works involving Earth

 * Alien Exodus
 * "Into the Great Unknown", in Star Wars Tales 19
 * Christmas In the Stars