Despite struggles when introducing myself, I’ve always loved my name. It connects me to my heritage on my dad’s side, an undeniably Japanese name. Written 千明 in Japanese, it means “one thousand brightness” (“Japanese Girl Names Including ‘千明’”). My given name connects me to my family just as much as my last name. Soundwise, my dad and both of my brothers’ names also end in “ki”. The second character 明 is made of the characters for sun 日 and moon 月.  As the youngest of three siblings, I often notice I have inherited interests from both of my older brothers. With my older brother’s name including a character made of two moons and my oldest brother’s having one with two suns, this is also reflected in my name. The sound “ki” taken from my dad’s name, a cute name my mom always loved, and matching characters with my brothers, Chiaki means so much more to me than just one thousand brightness.

As for my last name, Hada 波田, it literally means “wave rice field” in Japanese. Out of a population of around 123,000,000 (“Japan”), only approximately 700 households have the last name of 波田 with the same reading (“Japanese Last Names Including ‘波田’”). Hada, the name I give to a cashier when ordering, is easier for others to understand the pronunciation of. My middle name is Dutch, inherited from my mom, meaning hook of land by a river (“Hoekstra”). My brother often jokes that our middle name is “Hoekstra H-O-E-K-S-T-R-A” and our last name is “Hada H-A-D-A”, two rare names always needing to be followed by a spelling.

Two Japanese names, two points to my dad’s culture. The existence of a middle name, one point to my mom’s. One Dutch name, another point to my mom’s. A 2-2 tie, my names live in harmony with each other, perfectly balanced. Together, they paint a beautiful scene. On a bright day near a river, the wind and water ripple through a rice field.

Works Cited

Hada, Tomoki. Picture of Chiaki Hada. 22 Feb. 2025. Author's personal collection.

“Hoekstra - Name Meaning and Origin.” Name Discoveries, n.d., namediscoveries.com/surnames/hoekstra, Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.

“Japan Population 2024 (Live).” World Population Review, n.d., 

worldpopulationreview.com/countries/japan, Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.

“Japanese Last Names Including ‘千明’.” Japanese Names Info, n.d., japanese-names.info/first-names/search-result/gender-girl_freeword-%E5%8D%83%E6%98%8E_exact-1/, Accessed 17 Feb. 2025.

“Japanese Last Names Including ‘波田’.” Japanese Names Info, n.d., japanese-names.info/last-names/search-result/freeword-%E6%B3%A2%E7%94%B0_exact-1/, Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.

“Popularity of name Chiaki.” U.S. Social Security Administration Baby Name Database, U.S. Social Security Administration, n.d., ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi, Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.