Journalist Léa Salamé Reveals Lebanese Birth Name in Podcast Interview

Until Thursday, April 20, Léa Salamé’s real first name was unknown to the public. Reflecting on her childhood, she revealed it in a video posted on YouTube by Konbini. "My first name is a Lebanese name, because I was born in Beirut and I arrived in France when I was five years old because there was a civil war in Lebanon. And so originally, my first name is Hala," she reveals.

But in France, the pronunciation of her first name - the silent "h" in French - was a "suffering" for little Hala, victim of mockery. "They would tell me ’Allah akbar, your parents called you God.’ It hurt me terribly. Hala actually means ’welcome’ in Lebanese and is a common name," explains the host of the France Inter morning show and the France 2 program "Quelle époque".

These mockeries lead her to change her name around the age of 13 or 14. "I asked my mother to register Léa Hala at school and not the other way around [...], she confides. It took me a long time to accept my difference which would become my strength."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTO_pp9NwZY