The name derives from when Lucas was making one of his earlier films, "American Graffiti". Sound editor Walter Murch states that he is responsible for the utterance which sparked the name for the droid. Murch asked for Reel 2, Dialog Track 2, in the abbreviated form "R-2-D-2". Lucas, who was in the room and had dozed off while working on the script for "Star Wars", momentarily woke when he heard the request and, after asking for clarification, stated that it was a "great name" before going back to writing his script.