Licensing

June Murakami Magsaysay

My birth name is June Murakami. 

When my mother was pregnant with my sister, Dr. Shigekawa told her that she was going to have a “healthy baby boy.” When my mother became pregnant again, Dr. Shigekawa assured her that this time she was sure that I would be a “healthy baby boy.” My mother remembers the name they chose for a boy was Richard.

A week before I was due, my mother went into the hospital with labor pains, and she came up with a girl’s name for me. (Just in case!) It was the end of May, so I was going to be named May Satsuki Murakami (Satsuki is May in Japanese). She did not go into full labor however, and I was born on June 2—with June becoming my first name, and as Jun was also a Japanese name, I didn’t get a middle name.

I finally got a middle name when I married and chose to have Murakami become my middle name.