Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Sarvepalli is his family name, and Radhakrishnan is his first name) was born into a middle class Brahmin family at Tiruttani, a town in Tamil Nadu, South India, 64 km to the northwest of Chennai (formerly known as Madras). His mother tongue was Telugu. His early years were spent in Tiruttani, Tiruvallur and Tirupati.