Cher ‘Shocked’ to Discover Her Legal Name Was Different from What She Thought

In her new memoir, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, the iconic singer and actress Cher reveals an unexpected moment of personal discovery: when she applied to legally change her name in 1979, she was “shocked” to learn that her birth certificate listed her first name as Cheryl, not Cherilyn, as she had always believed.

Cher recalls that for years, she had assumed her full name was Cherilyn. However, when she decided to simplify her name legally to just “Cher,” she was taken aback to find a discrepancy. According to Cher, her mother, Georgia Holt, who gave birth to Cher in 1946 at the age of 19, was too exhausted after labor to properly name her.

The confusion began when a nurse asked her mother for the baby’s name. Cher’s mother, in pain and unsure, jokingly responded with “Cherilyn” after combining names of two people she admired—Lana Turner’s daughter, Cheryl, and her own mother’s name, Lynda.

Later, after learning the truth, Cher confronted her mother, asking, “Do you even know my real name, Mom?” To which Holt humorously replied, “I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break.”

Cher ultimately changed her name in 1979, dropping the additional surnames she had from her father, stepfather, and two ex-husbands. She adopted her famous mononym, “Cher,” which would become one of the most recognizable names in entertainment.

Cher: The Memoir, Part One was published on November 19 and is available now.