Born Eric Arthur Blair, Orwell adopted his pen name in part to avoid embarrassing his family with his political writings. He chose "George" after the patron saint of England, and "Orwell" after the River Orwell in Suffolk, a place he loved and often visited.
In the 1920s, Orwell. living in Paris at this time, faced severe financial hardship and took menial jobs, including working as a dishwasher in luxury hotels. His experiences with poverty and the working class became the basis for his first full-length book, Down and Out in Paris and London.