While investigating a customer problem today, I came across a really odd student name: Jumulak. It was this kid’s middle name. Now, if his first and surnames had been similarly strange, I would have chalked it up to somebody from foreign lands, but "Kevin J. Eklund" is quite whitebread, with just a hint of Norse influence.

Intruiged, I Googled "jumulak". All that mighty search engine could find was the name of a French show dog ("Odal’s jumulak de volotchanka rusalki", there’s a mouthful), and the fact that the Warruwi region in northern Australia holds a Jumulak festival during Naidoc Week.

While I’m sure Odal’s jumulak de volotchanka rusalki is a fine beast indeed, and the Warruwi Jumulak Festival is not to be missed if you happen to be there during Naidoc week, it didn’t bring me any closer to a full comprehension of the reasoning behind this exotic moniker. Was the kid named after a Frenchman’s Australian dog? Just one of those weird things, I guess.

(The student’s full name was changed slightly to protect his privacy. Except his inexplicable middle name.)