6 Minute English / The stories behind our names

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I m Neil.

And I m Beth.

Names tell us a lot about a person. Many names have meanings Paul, for example, means humble , and the name, Anna, originated from a Hebrew word meaning graceful .

Our name is an important part of our identity - if you hear someone shout your name in the street, you automatically turn to look. But names also reveal cultural and family connections which give us a sense of our history and our place in the world.

In this programme, we ll be meeting a writer whose name combines two very different sides of her identity one English, the other Indian. Sheela Banerjee was born in Hayes, West London to parents from the east Indian state of Bengal. We ll be hearing about Sheela s research into her name and family history, and, as usual, we ll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But first I have a question for you, Neil. As every parent knows, choosing your child s name isn t easy. Names go in and out of fashion, and a name that was popular one year soon becomes old-fashioned. So, what was the most popular name for baby girls in the UK last year. Was it:

a) Florence?b) Olivia? or,c) Amelia?

Hmm, I ll guess it was Olivia.

OK, Neil, we ll find out the answer later in the programme. Sheela Banerjee s name came out of her parents journey from British India to West London in the 1950s. Here she tells BBC Radio 4 programme, Word of Mouth, how reflecting on this journey inspired her new book, What s in a Name?, which blends her own life story with history and politics: