Rebecca Romijn (pronounced "Ro-Maine" in the USA — its proper Dutch pronunciation is ro:'m?in]) was born in Berkeley, California, the daughter of Elizabeth (née Kuizenga), a Community College teacher of English as a Second Language and textbook author, and Jaap Romijn, a custom furniture maker. Her father, a native of Barneveld, the Netherlands, is Dutch, and her mother is a third-generation Dutch American who met Romijn's father while staying in the Netherlands on a teen-age exchange program.