Why change Leia's name but not Luke's?

[Recursion]

Why give Luke to Owen and Beru under the name "Skywalker" on Vader's home planet if the point is to hide him?

Why give Leia to Palpatine's #1 political enemy (who would ever think of looking there)?

Why can Vader sense his son's presence from millions of miles away but not his daughter's when, you know, she's standing three feet from him?

[Kennah]

1. Sometimes a movie captures the imagination of a public who never question their faith in fiction

[Aristus]

2. And it helps to be 8 years old.

I didn't start asking these questions in the summer of '77.

I waited until I was in my late 20's, right before George Lucas puked up the second trilogy as a way of making the first seem like three masterpieces of film-making.

[edbermac]

3. Well maybe Skywalker is a common name there

You know like Smith or Jones

[JesterCS]

4. This question is asked in " I, Jedi " book.

the answer was kind of vague, but something to the point that Luke would be the only person with the Passion to go after Vader and Palpatine, because of his youth and wreckless-ness. Thus by keeping the Skywalker surname, he would have the " WANT " to find out what happened to his father eventually, and would learn so.