Star Wars: 10 Droids You Didn’t Know Had Names (And What They’re Called)

There are so many droids in the world of Star Wars that it’s no wonder they’ve resorted to using numbers to identify them. With so many service droids, Protocol Droids, and who knows how many Astromechs floating about, it’s a wonder there hasn’t been an uprising in one of the episodes, but we digress.

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Many of the droids are as recognizable as the members of the Jedi Council, but how many can you actually name other than the ones in the main cast? You might know their face, but not their names, so we’ve gathered ten such synthetic stars of the Star Wars movies.

10 BB-9E

Known to the fans as BB-8’s evil twin, this little black ball of malice is the resident Astromech of the First Order’s massive cruiser, the Supremecy. We can assume he has similar abilities to BB-8, but he’s also equipped with a sensitive photoreceptor for surveillance and spying for intruders aboard the ship.

While most Astromechs like R2-D2 and BB-8 are chipper and chirping with many a beep and a boop, BB-9E is cold as steel. If that evil red optic sensor didn’t give it away, he’s not the nicest little hunk of metal in the galaxy. He might be small, but that BB stands for Bad-Bot.

9 R5-D4

He’s the red Astromech with the bad motivator from A New Hope, though we prefer to think of him as R2’s less-successful brother. He might look like a broken hunk of junk destined to be scrapped by the Jawas, but he was actually a great catalyst for the film.

It might come as a surprise to some fans, but this little red rebel was actually a key component in getting R2-D2 to Luke Skywalker and later back to Princess Leia and the Rebellion. How you may ask? He shorted out his own motivator to save the galaxy.

8 2-1B

You’ve without a doubt seen this guy or others in his profession if you’ve steeped yourself into the Star Wars lore, but his most prominent role was in The Empire Strikes Back. 2-1B is a seasoned surgical droid with a surprisingly supportive bedside manner. He might look like a skeleton chewing on a microphone, but beneath him beats a caring band of circuits.

If that wasn’t enough to convince you of this guy’s medical merit, it should be noted that Luke Skywalker requested the droid specifically after the loss of his hand to Vader. Gotta love a repeat customer, right?

7 4-LOM

We’re actually surprised to learn that this bug-eyed bounty hunter is actually a droid and not some strange insectoid race of the galaxy far, far away. With his creepy, bug-like features, his rusty black armor, and his overall insidious demeanor earn him a spot on our list for just being his sinister stand-out self.

4-LOM can most prominently be seen some time after the Battle of Hoth, along with IG-88 and Boba Fett, receiving instructions on capturing the Millennium Falcon. His more frequent adventures and appearances occur in the expanded universe, and he’s got quite the reputation.

6 GNK Units

If you’ve seen these giant walking batteries, you’ve more than likely referred to them as simply Gonk droids, namely for the noise they make to communicate. We’re putting these huge hunks of mobile hardware on our list simply because even the most seasoned of Star Wars superfans forget what they’re called from time to time.

They may not be as active or even as useful as some of their other counterparts, but next to the Astromechs they’re probably the most seen and recognizable droids in the galaxy. They might look like trashcans with legs, but just the number of them is enough to win them a spot on our list.

5 GA-97

If we’re being entirely honest, we’re mainly adding GA-97 to our list for two reasons. One, his design is strangely from both the future and the past, somehow resulting in an ancient technology look. Two, he helps kick off one of the best sequences in The Force Awakens. Can you blame us?

This rusty and rickety-looking old droid is the reason the Resistance is able to locate Finn, Rey, BB-8 and the rest at Maz’s oasis. What proceeds is one of the most epic battles in the entire film between Kylo Ren and his First Order Troopers and a whole fleet of Resistance craft. Interesting how great things all begin with droids in the right place.

4 R4-P17

He might look like a red R2, but he’s had his own share of adventures. R4 was General Kenobi’s personal Astromech during the course of the Clone Wars saga. He goes on the list for not only being a cute red counterpart beside R2-D2 but puts a new context on one of Kenobi’s lines in A New Hope. 

When Luke reunites R2 and Obi-Wan Kenobi at the beginning of Episode 4, Old Ben mentions he doesn’t remember owning any droids. This might be the old Jedi’s age catching up to him, but it also might be him thinking “my droid was red, not blue.” We might be splitting circuits, but we’ll let you be the judge.

3 IG-11

Much to our surprise, the Assassin Droid introduced in Disney+’s The Mandalorian is not IG-88, though a striking resemblance, but IG-11. This tall, Waititi-voiced droid of destruction is one of the many bounty hunters that appear in the series. He makes this list simply due to a repeated case of mistaken identity.

We’re not trying to be droidists here, but he does look nearly identical to IG-88 from Empire Strikes Back. Can you blame us for mistaking the guy for his more notable and famous counterpart? We’re not saying all Assassination Droids look alike, but in this case, they definitely do.

2 G2-4T and G2-9T

We’re putting two droids for the price of one on this spot because we didn’t know they even had names until today. These two bird-footed-bots are the baggage and security droids guests meet before boarding their cruisers in Star Tours in Walt Disney World. With their quirky dialog and cute design, how could we say no to them?

Preparing to board a galactic craft would probably a more efficient process than the security checks at your typical airport, but these two give a surprisingly human element as one looks through passengers’ luggage and the other usher’s us through a security scanner. Definitely top-tier worthy.

1 MSE-6

Commonly known as the “Mouse Droid” this thing might not be the most iconic, but it’s been recognized nameless long enough. It’s not the most impressive on or list, but it’s a piece of the Star Wars universe that we can all recognize. We’re sure even Star Killer Base has a few scurrying around living in fear of a certain Wookie.

This squeaking, pint-sized Death Star droid exists for mainly two functions. A, to be small enough to repair tiny errors and malfunctions within the walls of the sinister space station. And B, serve as something small and skittish for our favorite walking carpet to terrify.

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