Licensing

Kent Hori

After I was born, my Dad wanted me to be named Ken, a name that could be seen as either English or Japanese. My Dad is a shin-Issei who came over to the US after the war. He became a US citizen. He still had a love for his Japanese tradition.

My Mom is a Sansei from Hawaii. She is more like a Nikkei from Hawaii in terms of her culture. She felt that because my middle name is a Japanese name, my first name should be an English name. For that reason, she chose Kent.

My Mom ended up as the winner because she was the one who filled out the paperwork after I was born. In this case, she had the power of the pen. The name was chosen because they wanted a name started with the letter “K”. The dispute was over if there should be a “T” at the end of my name.