Disclaimer: all of this is just my own speculation, based in linguistic analysis and without any kind of support or reference from Star Wars Canon, and it is pretty likely only an interesting coincidence.
The word Kenobi sounds really much like cenobite, making me think that even if this was not a conscious reference, it is at the very least very fitting.
Cenobite of course is a synonymous of Monk, and to be precise, the kind of monk that lives a communal life together with other monks in a convent, opposed to one that instead chooses a life of isolation, which instead is called Hermit.
The etymology of the English cenobite comes from Latin coenobita1, meaning monk, cloister-brother, in turn derived from Greek koinobios, a word composed by koinos (common) and bios (life). The Greek koinobios in particular has a sound that resembles very much the word Kenobi.
This is perfectly fitting with him belonging to the Jedi Order, being itself a monastic order, even if a militaristic one (besides the obvious Samurai inspirations, even western Knight Orders like the Templars, the Hospitaliers and other born during the Crusades were monastic in their nature); it is worth noting that many values and tenets (the most obvious being maybe the celibacy) are common to the fictional Jedi and to many of the real-world monastic orders.
It is rather ironical than in his later years Obi-Wan lived as an hermit, basically switching to the other style of monastic life.
Of course all this analysis is from an out-of-universe point of view, and should be considered only a speculation on the possible sources (both conscious or unconscious), since, strictly speaking, in-universe neither Latin nor Greek could be considered valid etymological sources.
Anyway, this interpretation gives way to two curious considerations (always from an out-of universe point of view):
- considering his later hermit way of life, if he would say something like "I've been once cenobite", the sentence will sound very much similar to his own name;
- being him a Jedi Knight from the Light Side, he is essentially a Good Monk, which translates in Latin to Bonus Coenobita, which in turn sounds very similar to his nickname Ben Kenobi.
1.
Please note that while in English "C" is often spelled like "S", in Latin (and neo-latin languages like Italian as well) it is spelled "K" (or in some cases with a sound similar to "CH"), so in example, "Caesar" must be pronounced "Kaesar" and not "Sisar", and in this case, while "cenobite" is spelled "senobait", the latin "coenobita" sounds like "coe-no-bee-ta" (while the Italian "cenobita" is more like "che-no-bee-ta"). You can listen it by using Google Translate.
