We Finally Know Baby Yoda's Real Name and, Sadly, It's Not Baby Yoda

At least we don't have to call him the Child anymore.

grogu baby yoda the mandalorian
Disney+
Disney+

Last week's episode of The Mandalorian ("The Jedi," Season 2, Episode 5) packed a ton of revelations and references to Star Wars lore into a single installment. For one thing, the episode introduced us to the titular Jedi, Ahsoka Tano, who has never appeared in a live-action Star Wars movie before this but has become a beloved character over the years for fans of the animated television shows. Played by Rosario Dawson, the character, who was once a young Padawan trained by Anakin Skywalker and who has been camped out on some desolate moon ever since the Empire fell, was on hand to menace Imperial magistrate Morgan Elsbeth (played by Diana Lee Inosanto), who'd taken control of a small town. Mando had been told by Bo-Katan to seek Ahsoka out to help him get the Child to his people.

That wasn't the only surprise of the episode, however. During Ahsoka and Imperial Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth's climactic fight, Ahsoka demands to know the whereabouts of a certain Grand Admiral Thrawn, a name that would mean nothing to you if you've only ever seen the Star Wars movies, but everything to fans of the shows and their spinoff books. Thrawn, whose full name is Mitth'raw'nuruodo, was a Chiss Imperial Navy Admiral during the age of the Empire, a ruthless and brilliant strategist who was last seen disappearing into unknown regions of hyperspace after losing a battle on Lothal. He was also present during the civil war on Mandalore, and is an expert in Mandalorian battle tactics. There's no telling whether or not he'll actually appear on The Mandalorian any time soon, or if he was simply a name-drop, but it's nice to know he's still out there somewhere.

Speaking of name-drops, though, perhaps the greatest revelation of the episode was the unexpected reveal of Baby Yoda's real name. It's nothing like "Baby Yoda," unfortunately. The Child's actual name is Grogu, and he was trained in the ways of the Force in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant before the beginning of the Galactic Civil War. Since then, he's been in hiding, suppressing his powerful Force-sensitivity to avoid detection from the likes of Moff Gideon and any other Imperial factions who would want to use him for evil. Grogu! Grogu. His name is Grogu. Grogu Grogu Grogu. It's gonna be real hard to stop calling him Baby Yoda, though.

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Emma Stefansky is a staff entertainment writer at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @stefabsky.