Well, I am always surprised to find my name popping up in unexpected places…and usually not because I am an author so much as my Japanese name draws attention. I was named after my mother's best friend in college, and it has served me well. Especially considering that the BBC News Magazine thought it intriguing enough to write a little feature on the name in "Why Midori?".
And of course here's the best part:
"Midori crops up in Japanese placenames, and it is a relatively common girl's name. Here's where it becomes connotation-laden. Midori is a Japanese violinist, but another Midori is a "prominent human sexuality writer" and a third Midori is a porn actress. There is a Midori Snyder who writes fantasy novels, and a Midori Matsuo who is an aspirant underwear designer."
That would be me…right after the porn actress and before the aspirant underwear designer. This is why when I first started publishing, I was reluctant to let my children look up my name on the internet — too often it brought up "Midori's House of Pain." Oy….
It’s definitely a cool name! In Minneapolis, MN, USA, there is Midori’s Floating World Cafe in my old neighborhood. The little girl who was the daughter of the owners used to be featured in their advertisements, wearing a traditional Japanese kimono and captioned, “Aria – Inventor of ‘Aria’s Tempura Rice Balls.'”
Love that there is a cafe with that name! I don’t get to the Midwest as often as I use to — but if drive through Minneapolis again I will definitely stop there! (Love too the “Floating World” part of their name.