It is a name that has echoed prominently through the Senate for years, even though most Americans know very little about the person himself.

“Mr. Akaka. … ”

It has been both a signal for something starting to happen — a roll-call vote — or for nothing at all happening as the Senate drifts into another aimless quorum call and the legislative clerk dutifully ticks off the attendance list.

“Mr. Akaka. … ”

Senator Daniel K. Akaka, a humble man long overshadowed by his better-known Hawaiian colleague, Senator Daniel K. Inouye, who died last week, has for more than a decade been first among equals in the Senate in at least one regard: the alphabet.

In that position, his name has touched off innumerable votes and other Senate procedures, the intonation amplified by C-Span to televisions, radios and now computers around the nation and the world.

“Mr. Akaka. …

—Chad Blair