July 27, 2008

Andy's Japanese middle name -- Kenji -- in traditional kanji.

Dan's middle name -Matsu - in kanji

A few years ago, when Gary's parents arrived for a visit, they brought along these two beautiful hand-painted prints of the boys' Japanese names. Dad arranged to have them framed at local shop and they are among the most beautiful things in our home. And as fortune would have it, they fit exactly in the wall space between the interior windows.

If you noticed the names look quite similar, that's because in the traditional way, our surname appears at the top.

Like Gary, our younger boys have Japanese middle names. When we were expecting Andy, even before we chose Andrew for his first name, we chose his Japanese name. Gary's middle name is Ken, and doesn't sound Japanese enough for his liking. The character his parents used signifies strength of character. We chose to use Gary's name for Andy's middle name and personalized it by adding the 'ji' suffix to denote second son, to Gary's character. Success -- it sounds more Japanese, and acknowledges Will's place as Gary's first son (Gary adopted Will when we married). And, it fits him so well!

In choosing Dan's name, we asked Gary's parents for ideas. Mom really didn't have one right away, so she consulted her sisters. Aunty Sachi suggested using their father's name, Matsu. I was surprised to find no one else had already used his name since Gary comes from a large family. I especially liked the idea of naming Dan after a great-grandparent, since I'm named after my maternal great-grandparents (yes, both of them). We love that his name means longevity. When you live life as full-on as Dan does, a blessing for longevity is a good thing!