Cher Reveals She Was Shocked to Discover Her Legal Name

In her recently released memoir, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, the iconic singer and actress Cher recounts a surprising discovery about her legal name during a pivotal moment in her life.

The Oscar and Grammy winner recalls how, in 1979, when she applied to legally change her name to simply “Cher,” she was stunned to learn that her birth certificate listed her first name as Cheryl. Until that point, she had always believed her full name was Cherilyn.

Cher explains that the mix-up stemmed from a decision made by her late mother, Georgia Holt, shortly after her birth in 1946. At the time, Holt, then just 19 years old and exhausted after labor, hadn’t fully decided on a name for her newborn daughter. When a nurse pressed her for a name, Holt improvised, saying, “Lana Turner’s daughter is named Cheryl, and my mother’s name is Lynda, so how about Cherilyn?”

Years later, upon discovering the discrepancy, Cher confronted her mother, asking, “Do you even know my real name, Mom?” According to the memoir, Holt responded humorously, “I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break.”

Cher went on to legally change her name in 1979, dropping her given name and the four surnames she had accumulated over her life. These included her father’s last name, Sarkisian; her stepfather’s last name, LaPiere; and the last names of her two ex-husbands, Sonny Bono and Gregg Allman. From that point forward, she was officially known simply as Cher, a mononym that would come to define her legendary career.

Cher: The Memoir, Part One was published on November 19 and offers fans a deeper glimpse into her life’s many chapters. The memoir is now available for purchase.