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George Lucas took the name from Tataouine in Tunisia. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

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Yes. It sits on the Movies & TV shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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Mondo Knows Facts

Star Wars' Tatooine is named after a real town

George Lucas took the name from Tataouine in Tunisia

George Lucas named the desert planet Tatooine after Tataouine, a town in southern Tunisia. Scenes for the 1977 film were shot in the Tunisian desert, and some of the sets remain standing there. The real place gives its name to a governorate as well.

Where this comes from

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Movies & Television trivia

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Tags: star-wars, tunisia, filming-locations

Star Wars' Tatooine is named after a real town: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: George Lucas took the name from Tataouine in Tunisia. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a movies & tv fact?: Yes. It sits on the Movies & TV shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.