My full name is Jamye Grace Kamakalehua Aquino Kamali’i. My first name which is Jamye Grace was chosen by my mother. My middle name was chosen by my Uncle Kekoa on my dad’s side of the family. Aquino is my mother’s maiden name and Kamali’i is my father last name.

Jamye was chosen because my mother had a connection to the character with the same name as me, but I am not sure why it is spelled this certain way. My second first name is Grace, because my mother had a cyst in one of her fallopian tubes before she had me and many thought that she had no chance to become pregnant, but here I am. She felt that it was the “grace” of God was the reason I was brought into this world.

My middle name is Kamakalehua which literal definition is “the sight of the lehua blossom” but its kaona or deeper meaning, is loved by many. My Uncle gifted me with the name because he had dreamt about it before I was born. Many Hawaiians are blessed with their Hawaiian name being chosen for them by a kūpuna.

I used to be embarrassed assed that my first name was spelled differently than others and that I had two first names. I felt like an outcasts and very pretentious for the extra long first name. I was able to deal with it as I got older because I realized that my name was original and that it had a lot of meaning to my mother.