25 letters, one long name

Not many people can spell her name accurately.

ID photo

Not many people can spell her name accurately.

Some people have relatively common names. They may be as short as three letters long, or even as long as eight or nine. But there is one freshman who has a name that is 25 letters long, and that’s just her first name. 

Kawenaokalaniokekamaaloha Sharon Itsuko Yamamoto usually goes by her nickname, Kavena, because it is much easier to pronounce.

Yamamoto’s first name is Hawaiian. “I like my name but I just don’t really like when I have to write it out,” she said, although she would not want a shorter name. “I actually like my name it’s really unique to me and I like how it different.” 

She doesn’t really know why her parents gave her that name but she likes how not a lot of people have it or can pronounce it. “Besides my parents, some of my friends know how to say my full name,” Yamamoto said 

When people see her name, they often ask if it has the whole alphabet in it. The Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters, and most of them are in Yamamoto’s name multiple times. Not something that a lot of people can say about their own name.