Linda Takano
My dad’s family fled China for Thailand when he was a child. Part of assimilating into the broader Thai community included trading their original Chinese name 解 for a Thai one. When my dad eventually arrived to the U.S. as a young man, it was with his Thai surname “Akaraparamest.” I remember going to school with this name and spelling it out was a challenge, even when I tried to write my letters small enough to fit on one line. One day, my dad informed us that we were changing our last name to return to our Chinese roots. He explained that Akaraparamest was too difficult for Americans to pronounce. My dad’s family name was the same as “thank you” in Cantonese, but he had been unsure of how to spell it in English until he saw a Chinese doctor being interviewed on TV and the caption read “Dr. Shay.” A deeply held reverence for doctors led to us to legally change our name to Shay. We have since found that most people with our surname go by Xie, Hsieh or Tze. While Shay was easy to spell, this name would have its own challenges since it was also a common Irish surname. When I showed up for job interviews, I could tell people were expecting a person who did not look like me. Twenty years ago, I took my husband’s last name, Takano. Yes, I am often mistaken for someone of Japanese descent. Still, I love this name and all the names I’ve worn as part of my story and the stories before me.
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