Brummies may be the originals when it comes to living in a place called Birmingham, but we're not the only ones - far from it. While our metropolis dates back to the Domesday Book (when it was worth a princely 20 shillings) and was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1889, dozens of towns, hamlets, suburbs and cities - even a crater - have since been given the name Birmingham. CityLiving packed its bags and took a virtual namesake tour that spanned the globe and beyond... AUSTRALIA
Birmingham Creek, Tasmania CANADA
Birmingham Bay, Somerset Island Birmingham, Saskatchewan IRELAND
Birmingham Castle, Athenry, Galway Athenry is a medieval town founded in the 13th century by Meiler de Birmingham; the only walled town in Ireland whose still intact walls are visible to visitors. Birmingham Castle, Carbury, Kildare New Birmingham, Tipperary NEW ZEALAND
Birmingham, Wellington, North Island UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Birmingham, Jefferson, Alabama After our own, probably the most famous Birmingham; located at the foothills of the Appalachians, Birmingham, AL, the biggest city in the state (pop. in 2000 - 242,820), is best-known to many as being one of the key places in the 1960s civil rights movement - riots in 1963 and the 16th Street church bombing in 1964 which claimed four lives two of the events documented at the fascinating Birmingham Civil Rights Institute located in the city centre. Other local attractions in what is known as 'Magic City', (does that make the inhabitants magicians? - Ed) include Vulcan Park, VisionLand Theme Park, the McWane Center (their Thinktank) and - something we don't have here - Birmingham Zoo. Birmingham Port, Jefferson, Alabama Birmingham, Los Angeles, California Birmingham, New Haven, Connecticut Birmingham, Fulton, Georgia Birmingham, Schuyler, Illinois Birmingham, Miami, Indiana Birmingham, Van Buren, Iowa "Gateway to Scenic Van Buren County", the town was first laid out in 1839 on 40 acres of land. Other fascinating facts include Birmingham receiving its city charter on June 1, 1856 and receiving its first train on March 1, 1882. The local newspaper, The Birmingham Enterprise, ran for 70 years but has since merged with the nearby Bonaparte Record. Birmingham Iowa's historical links with the car may not be as strong as our own, but the first automobile in the town is recorded as being owned by the Arbaugh family in 1909. Birmingham, Jackson, Kansas Birmingham, Marshall, Kentucky Birmingham, Oakland, Michigan Situated some six miles north of Detroit, it was settled in 1819 but was not incorporated as a city until 1932. Today home to some 20,000 people, the city "has a lively pedestrian-friendly downtown offering one of the Midwest's premier shopping districts... this indeed is a place to 'live, shop and play'". Birmingham, Lee, Mississippi Birmingham, Clay, Missouri In the 2000 census just 214 people were recorded as living in Birmingham, Clay County. There are more drunks on Broad Street on an average Friday night... Birmingham, Burlington, New Jersey Birmingham, Erie, Ohio Birmingham, Guernsey, Ohio Birmingham, Allegheny, Pennsylvania Birmingham, Chester, Pennsylvania Birmingham, Delaware, Pennsylvania (there are two in the same county) Birmingham, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania Not the most jumping place... population - 91. Birmingham, Snohomich, Washington THE MOON
Cue 'the place lacks atmosphere' gags, this Birmingham is a surviving remnant of a lunar crater, located near the northern limb of the Moon, near the Mare Frigoris. Named not after our city but Australian writer John Birmingham (author of He Died With A Felafel In His Hand, Dopeland, Weapons Of Choice amongst others), the crater is some 92km (57.5 miles) wide and is visible from Earth as a long depression seen in profile. "The only thing it shares with the city is its name," says Dr Robert Massey, senior astronomer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. "Even a cold day in Birmingham wouldn't compare with a cold day on the Moon." | 
