Unfortunately, Gene hit a snag. Every surname Roddenberry came across was specific to a particular nation.
Given that 20th-century Asia was, in Takei’s words, “turbulent with warfare, colonization, rebellion,” Roddenberry was hesitant to assign Sulu a name that would align him with one particular country over another.
Enter Roddenberry’s map of Asia and his discovery of the Sulu Sea. The Star Trek creator reportedly found an area on the map labeled the Sulu Sea off of the coast of the Philippines and instantly knew he had his name.
According to Takei, Roddenberry picked the Sulu Sea because “the waters of the sea touch all shores.”