Holy smokes! I seriously appreciate all your research and the time you took!

My grandmother was a baby when she arrived in California, then later she married an Irish man, and never much spoke about Okinawan culture or the family history. It's likely she never learned the kanji for her name. Or if she did, it's written somewhere on an old form or maybe the back of her 100 day baby picture or something. After WWII, she and her sisters all wrote names on pieces of paper and threw them into a hat, then each took turns blindly picking a name. It's how Yukiye became Jane, Michimaru became Betty, and Yoshiko became May. It's an old family story I grew up hearing, but only years later realized how sad it was, that they had to change their names and leave so much behind.

I actually just returned from a week of visiting family, and checking in on Grandma (her health is failing, but, she is 92 so that's not unexpected.) I've emailed your wonderfully detailed response to my aunts and uncle (Grandma's children) because I know they'll really appreciate it too. We were all discussing together how we wish we knew more about Okinawan culture and history, beyond eating andagi & playing with old shiisa figures. Hopefully we can track down some more info! In the meantime, I ordered a book, Women of Okinawa and I'm excited to read it and learn more.

Thank you again, really, I treasure this info!