BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty has been a fixture on our TV screens for nearly two decades, but many people don’t realise that her first name is actually a nickname
BBC Breakfast’s Naga Munchetty has been a familiar face on TV for nearly two decades, yet many viewers are unaware that Naga is actually a nickname given to her by her mum.
Born Subha Nagalakshmi Munchetty-Chendriah in February 1975, she was quickly dubbed Naga, which means ‘cobra’ in Sanskrit, after her mum had snake dreams during her pregnancy.
Speaking to Saga Magazine, she confessed that she wasn’t fond of her distinctive name as a child, and was often teased at school. She said: “I’ve embraced it now, but when I was younger, it was all about assimilation and it was an unusual name.
“l’d get people asking, ‘Oh, does she nag a lot?’ all the time and there were some awful racist variations as well.”
She disclosed that she once contemplated changing her name to the more English-sounding Nadia to avoid racial slurs. Naga also endured further racist abuse upon joining the BBC, with some online trolls accusing her of being a “token” hire, reports the Manchester Evening News.
She says these days the insults are less frequent, and while she’s learned to brush them off, Naga concedes they still hurt. “Even though you think you’re not going to let these remarks influence you, of course they hurt,” she said.
Naga’s chronic medical condition is harder to overlook. In 2022, she was diagnosed with adenomyosis, a painful disorder where the womb’s lining grows into its muscle walls.
She revealed that she had been enduring this condition, which triggers extremely heavy periods, nausea and excruciating cramps for many years prior, but doctors had failed to correctly pinpoint the problem.
She only received an accurate diagnosis after suffering from severe bleeding for two weeks and experiencing such intense pain that her husband James had to dial for an ambulance.
She said: “I’m very lucky because you have to pick your moment with partners to tell them about everything you go through. You don’t want to do it on the first date, or the first time you sleep together.
“We liked the life we had and we wanted to pursue that life,” she says.
Naga added that parenthood is “expensive, it’s exhausting and a commitment for life.”
She admits her mum initially struggled with the decision, but has now come to terms with it. Naga says that her mum’s incredibly proud of her career.