Kimi Laurel Ishikawa

Kimi (kee-mee) Laurel Ishikawa is a retired elementary school teacher living on a New Mexico mesa with her husband and chickens (and yes, she kept her original name when marrying). She loves many things about New Mexico, including the ability to blend into a crowd of New Mexicans with similarly not-immediately-obvious ancestry, and an entire population familiar enough with Spanish words to be unfazed at the pronunciation of her name.

Updated September 2024

Stories from This Author

Nikkei Chronicles #13—Nikkei Names 2: Grace, Graça, Graciela, Megumi?

Kimi (kee-mee) Ishikawa

Oct. 2, 2024 • Kimi Laurel Ishikawa

I have learned to write my name on name tags and doctor forms as “Kimi (kee-mee) Ishikawa.” I have learned to correct people by explaining “My name is Kimi… KI like a key, and MI like me, myself and I. It’s Kimi—just like Mimi but with a K.” I am not particular about people pronouncing my last name ee-she-kah-wah: even I use the sloppier American pronunciation ǐsh-uh-kah-wah… but having my first name pronounced “Kimmie” is a grating irritation. The host …