Naga Munchetty has been a regular face on BBC Breakfast since 2009, but fans are only just learning her real name
Naga Munchetty isn’t her real name (Image: Getty)
BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty has been a staple of the show since 2009, but viewers are only just realising that Naga isn’t actually her real name. Born in 1975, Naga grew up in Streatham, south London, but her mother originally hailed from Tamil Nadu in India, while her dad moved to the UK from Mauritius.
Her parents met while they were both studying in Wales, and tied the knot in London just a year before Naga’s birth, without telling either of their parents. English was their shared language, so when Naga was young it was always the language spoken at home.
Naga herself didn’t go to India until she was eight years old to meet her grandparents, and then travelled to Mauritius for the first time when she was 12.
The BBC star has shared her feelings on anglicised names during an interview with The Guardian, explaining that her mum Muthu used to go by Michelle. She said: “Names are so important, identity is so important. Once when I was a child, a woman called my mum Michelle. I said, ‘Why are you calling her that?’ and she said ‘It’s her name’.
Naga explained the meaning behind her nickname (Image: Getty)
“I said, ‘No, it’s not, her name is Muthu’. It made me think, that’s a difficult thing to have to deal with. It’s like losing your identity. But it’s what used to happen, immigrants anglicising their names.”
And Naga’s real name? It’s Subha Nagalakshmi Munchetty-Chendriah. She joked with the publication: “Can you imagine spelling that for people when you’re a small child at school?
“But my mother started calling me Naga, because it means cobra and she dreamed of snakes when she was pregnant. I’ve always hated the name and for a while I thought about changing it to Nadia. In some ways, I wish I had.”
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