Shuroki Online

No, Shuroki is not an anime character..

Though that is the most frequent guess. In Googling I did find a Romanian cosplayer that seemed to go by the handle Shuroki at one time but doesn’t seem to any longer.

The name Shuroki actually comes from an on-the-job mispronunciation. A lifetime ago a young fellow was working at the Bureau of Indian Affairs computer helpdesk (no, not me but thanks for playing ).

You see, the Federal Government recognizes over 550 Native American and Alaska Native Tribes. Many of these Tribes have very odd and difficultly pronounced names. So you get used to weird spellings. Some of the more difficult include: Couer D’Alene (Kor-da-lane); Burns Paiute (Burns Pie-oot); Tulalip (Too-wah-lup); Chickasaw (Chick-ah-shay); and Jicarilla (Hick-ah-ree-ah). Though my personal favorite Tribal names to say have always been Muckleshoot and Nooksack.

A young tech support guy was calling the offices for various tribal leader offices for information in order to complete an assignment. He was repeating a tribe name that didn’t sound familiar, “Shu-ro-ki, Shu-ro-ki”, so his supervisor walked over to see what he was talking about. To everyone’s surprise it was Cherokee. Yes, Che-ro-kee. One of the most recognized Native American Tribes on the planet alongside the Navajo, Apache, and Sioux.

Of course, much teasing ensued. Well, the story had come up in talking about Tribes when I mentioned that I was a registered member of the Cherokee Nation. Needless to say, the story has always stuck with us and gets a good laugh now and then. I just so happened to have owned a Jeep Grand Cherokee and decided to get a personalized license plate. Personal plates are dirt cheap here and everybody seems to have one. When it came to picking a seven letter personal message Shuroki seemed a natural fit being – seven letters – but more importantly since the Jeep was a Cherokee as am I.

When people would see the plate and ask what it means, it usually came in the form of “Hey- that’s a funny license plate. Is that an anime character?” So a quick retelling of the story would frequently follow.

When we wanted to create a website for our blended family and various interests we couldn’t think of a domain name that worked. I came upon the idea of using Shuroki.com because its personal to us, it wasn’t taken, and it just has a fun, playful sound to it.

And thats what our family and this site are all about: having fun

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