Almost every day I see interesting names that remind me just how diverse the population of our city is. This afternoon, for example, I saw a "for sale" sign which listed the real estate agent's name as Martha Winderweedle, and this morning I had a conversation at church with a Mrs. Van Slambrouck. Winderweedle and Van Slambrouck are very interesting Dutch names. My class rosters at Jefferson State also contain many unusual names, some local and some foreign. From a pair of North Birmingham twins named Gazaza and Gataza Walker to almost unpronounceable Vietnamese names like Nguyen and Ng, from Nepalese names like Pradhan to Thai names like Volanvoranvuth, from Kenyan names like Kipchumba to Italian names like Marcantonio, I am constantly finding interesting roster names from a wide variety of ethnic and national backgrounds. However, the most unusual and memorable name I have encountered here in Birmingham was the name of an Olympic track star from Zimbabwe who was being trained by a local running coach. Her name was Elizabeth Ngozi Mwanamwambwa. (By the way, it took me about a half hour's practice to learn to say Elizabeth's name properly.) Of course, there are many ordinary sounding names like Smith or Johnson or Brown, but every day in Birmingham we encounter plenty of the unusual and interesting names that remind us just how diverse the people of our city are.

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