Cher Discovered Her Real Birth Name Wasn’t What She Thought

Cher is setting the record straight about her real birth name, and it’s not what even she believed for decades.

In her newly released memoir, “Cher: The Memoir, Part One,” the 78-year-old music icon opens up about the surprising discovery she made when legally changing her name to simply “Cher.”

For years, Cher was under the impression her birth name was Cherilyn. But during the legal name-change process, she was stunned to find out her official name was actually Cheryl.

“I believed Cherilyn was my name until the day years later when I decided to legally change my name to simply Cher,” she writes in her memoir, calling the discovery “shocking.”

The story behind her name dates back to her mother’s unexpected and difficult labor. Cher explains that her 19-year-old mom went into labor a month early and endured a long, unmedicated delivery before welcoming her at 7:30 a.m. on May 20.

While recovering, her mother was approached by a nurse demanding a name for the baby. Exhausted and caught off guard, her mother reportedly said, “Well, Lana Turner’s my favorite actress, and her little girl’s called Cheryl. My mother’s name is Lynda, so how about Cherilyn?”

However, when Cher confronted her mom about the mistake on her birth certificate, her mom had a blunt response: “I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break.”

Cher’s memoir dives into many intimate details of her life, including her whirlwind divorce from Gregg Allman after just nine days and the one celebrity who dumped her.