I was born on January 25^th, 1938 to Yoriko Ann Nagai and Ben Noriaki Nagai. My birth certificate was formally filed on the 10^th of February, 1938 listing my name as Gordon Noriaki Nagai. A subsequent addendum to my birth certificate was filed on the 28^th of April, 1942, changing my name to Gordon Hideaki Nagai.

This name was a composite of the first half of my mother’s father’ name, Hidekichi, and the last half of my father’s name, Noriaki. The word in Japanese translates as autumn sunrise. I don’t know the reason behind this name change, but it likely had to do with honoring both Mom’s father and her husband. I understand that composition names like this are fairly common in Japanese families.

My first name, Gordon, is an American name and not remotely Japanese. At the time in 1938, just several years before Pearl Harbor, Mom and Dad did a mixture of retaining our Japanese heritage by giving us Japanese middle names, while giving us American first names. My older sister was named Janet Akiko, I was Gordon Hideaki, and my younger brother went by Gene Naohichi. For my youngest brother who was born in camp, he came out with David Charles, the only one of us with an American middle name.

The connection with my American name Gordon, an uncommon American name as far as boys’ names go, was associated with a high school classmate of Mom’s at Livingston High School, Gordon Winton.  He was a close friend, and after graduating high school went on and completed a college degree in law and became an attorney. It was in that capacity that when Mom and Dad were married, Winton assisted them in purchasing a farm in Mom’s name. At the time anti-Japanese laws in California prohibited Japanese aliens from owning property, which applied to Dad, but as Mom was born near San Jose and was thus a U.S. citizen, he was able to negotiate the complex laws around land ownership and the farm was purchased in her name. It was this friendship that was the basis for my being named Gordon.

A follow-up to all that preceded this was that when Pearl Harbor happened and President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the evacuation of all persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast, Gordon Winton, along with a municipal judge Joseph Cardoza, and the wealthiest land owner in Atwater, Bill Harmon, in an effort to save our home, drew up papers to purchase our farm for the sum of $1.00, and sold it all back to us at war’s end. Because of this action our home and farm were saved, and unlike many evacuees we had something to come home to, and friends to welcome us.