Cher Says She Was ‘Shocked’ By The Name She Discovered On Her Birth Certificate

For more than 30 years, Cher thought her legal name was Cherilyn Sarkisian.

But when she finally got her hands on a copy of her birth certificate, she learned it was actually something different: Cheryl.

The music legend said she learned in the 1970s that her legal name wasn’t what she thought it was, due to a mistake on her birth certificate.

Cher recalled in her new autobiography, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, that she was “shocked” to discover the mix-up when she applied for a copy of the certificate in 1979 to legally change her name, according to People.

“I believed Cherilyn was my name until the day years later when I decided to legally change my name to simply Cher,” she wrote, per the outlet. 

She was 33 when she shortened her first name and dropped her four surnames: Sarkisian, LaPiere, Bono and Allman.

The Believe singer’s mother, Georgia Holt, was 19 when she gave birth. After a long and exhausting labour, a nurse asked Holt what she wanted to name her baby, Cher wrote. 

“My mother had no idea, but the woman insisted so she replied, ‘Well, Lana Turner’s my favorite actress and her little girl’s called Cheryl. My mother’s name is Lynda, so how about Cherilyn?’” she recounted. 

Cher said that when she confronted her mum about the mix-up, and asked her, “Do you even know my real name, mum?” her mother replied, “I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break”.

Sarkisian was the surname on Cher’s birth certificate. She picked up the surname LaPiere from Gilbert LaPiere, who adopted her after he married Georgia Holt in 1961. Cher then took on the names Bono and Allman from her marriages to singers Sonny Bono and Gregg Allmann.

Cher’s memoir was released last week. The second volume is slated for release in 2025. The first part contains details from her childhood until her complicated and high-profile marriage to Sonny Bono, which ended in 1975.