Meet the man whose parents really (yes, really!) named him Darthvader

The ghost of his grandfather haunts Ben Solo/Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. If only someone could inform our favorite emo wannabe Sith that a man by the name of Darthvader is alive and well in Memphis.

Darthvader Devon Williamson is a surgical tech at St. Francis Hospital-Bartlett, a medical center roughly 20 miles east of Memphis’s historic Beale Street. Humble and low-key, Williamson has found himself thrust into the spotlight after co-worker Derek Venckus filmed a video featuring Williamson and uploaded it to the hospital’s YouTube page. Yahoo Entertainment traveled to Tennessee to meet the man and learn more about his life as Darthvader.

Darthvader is born

Williamson owes his unique moniker to parents he says “are just normal … an everyday mother and father.” As Williamson put it, “Mom was the disciplinarian of the family, and my father was just a laid-back, easygoing guy. They were both in the military — that’s where they met, actually. In Honolulu. And after love transpired, so did I.”

Originally intended to be named Anthony Lee Williamson Jr. after his father, those plans changed after a fateful purchase of some Star Wars memorabilia. “They came out with baseball cards that [featured] certain scenes,” Williamson recalled. “And so there was one that was just Darth Vader. So, of course, enamored with the movie, [my father] was in love with the character. So he just came to my mom and said, ‘Look, this is one badass dude. We could name our child [Darth Vader].'”

“[My mom] was like, ‘OK. In the movie, his name is Lord Darth Vader. … We’ll drop the Lord, we’ll name him Darthvader as his first name.’ After giving birth and whatnot, realizing what she had done, she was like, ‘I agreed to this?!?’

“[My dad] was like, ‘It’s cool, it’s cool. He’ll be fine.'”

Darthvader’s early years

Williamson was born in Texas, but his military family was constantly on the move in his early years. With stops along the way in Boston and Germany, he started attending  kindergarten in Miami. “Kids and adults in elementary school could be just awful. … When we’d have teachers call roll call, and of course they’d do it alphabetically, and when it got to the end, they would just look up over their papers and say, ‘Really? Darthvader?’” Williamson said. “And I’d raise my hand, and all the kids would start laughing. I didn’t find it funny; it was just my name. Kids wouldn’t want to play with me because they thought something was wrong because I had that name. The list goes on.”

Williamson decided he was done being Darthvader. “In the third grade I wanted to change my name,” Williamson recalled. “Apparently I was really hellbent on my name being Jerry because when the teacher called my name out I didn’t answer. I told her my name was Jerry. She called my mother and told her what I had done. [My mother] told me what the process was, everything I’d have to do, and at that point I said, ‘You know what? I’ll just be Darthvader. I’ve got it. I’ll deal with it.’”


Darthvader Williamson, 39, is a surgical tech in Memphis. (Photo: Yahoo)
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Darthvader goes to India

As an agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Williamson’s mother took an assignment in India when he was still in elementary school. It was a time that Williamson would come to cherish. Aside from the enjoyment of exploring a different nation, Williamson didn’t find himself the subject of ridicule because of his name.