Nova Ren Suma: Hello, my name is Nova Ren Suma. Maybe from my name, you could guess that my mom was a hippie. This is true. She was there at the Woodstock concert in 1969. For a time when I was a teenager, we lived in the town of Woodstock in Upstate New York. A lot of my friends there had unusual names like mine. My mom found my name in a book called The New Age Baby Name Book. Nova means chasing butterflies in Hopi. My middle name, Ren, means lotus flower in Japanese.

My last name, Suma, S-U-M-A, is Italian. Actually it's a name from Sicily. I think the more common spelling is Summa, S-U-M-M-A. I wonder if one of the Ms got lost when my ancestors came through Ellis Island. People get confused about my name all the time and don't know what to call me. If you ever meet me in person, just call me Nova.