Thirunalloor (variously spelt in English as Thirunelloor, Thirunellur and Thirunallur) Karunakaran - 'Thirunalloor', his family name, and 'Karunakaran', his given name - was born in the village of Perinad in Kollam (Quilon) district in Kerala to P.K.Padmanabhan and N.Lakshmy.
After taking his BA degree in History from S N College, Kollam, he worked as a tutor there for a brief stint.