Cher reveals she was ‘shocked’ to learn her real name after birth certificate mix-up

Cher recently revealed she was ‘shocked’ to learn what her real name was when she legally changed her name.

In her new memoir, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, the music icon, 78, recalls discovering that there had been a mix-up of birth certificates at the hospital when she was born.

She said she believed her name was Cherilyn for years before legally changing it to her name Cher.

The Goddess of Pop — who said her late ex-husband Sonny Bono would “like” how she portrayed him in her new memoir — explained it all: “I believed Cherilyn was my name until the day years later when I decided to legally change my name to simply Cher.”

She said she was surprised when she found out her name was Cheryl.

Cher explained that the mix-up at the hospital occurred when her mother, then just 19 years old, went into labor a month earlier than her due date.

In 1946, she said her mother Georgia Holt also endured a long labor without medication.

“She was exhausted when I arrived around 7:30 a.m. on Monday, May 20,” Cher wrote in her memoir.

She said that when her mother was recovering from childbirth, a nurse asked her name.

Then the misunderstanding arose.

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

The Grammy winner legally changed her full name to Cher in the late 1970s, dropping her four last names: her birth name Sarkisian, plus the last names of her stepfather Gilbert LaPiere and ex-husbands Sonny Bono and Gregg Allman.

In order to legally and officially change her name, she had to provide her birth certificate and when she got it, she discovered that her name was not what she had thought it had been all her life at the time.

The Grammy winner legally changed her full name to Cher in the late 1970s, dropping her four last names: her birth name Sarkisian, plus the last names of her stepfather Gilbert LaPiere and ex-husbands Sonny Bono and Gregg Allman; pictured in 1983 in Los Angeles

Cher explained that the mix-up at the hospital occurred when her mother, then just 19 years old, went into labor a month earlier than her due date. In 1946, she said that her mother Georgia Holt also endured a long labor without medication; pictured November 2010 in Hollywood

In her new memoir, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, the music icon, 78, recalls discovering that there had been a mix-up of birth certificates at the hospital when she was born. She said she believed her name was Cherilyn for years before she legally changed it to her nickname Cher; pictured in July 2018 in London

After learning her name was wrong on the birth certificate, Cher said she asked her mother about it.

The singer recalled her mother telling her, “I was just a teenager and in a lot of pain. Give me a break.”

The Believe singer previously shared the reason why she wanted to change her legal name to Cher in 1979.

“I like it,” Cher told Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show at the time.

The Goddess of Pop explained in her tell-all, “I believed Cherilyn was my name until the day years later when I decided to legally change my name to simply Cher.” She said she was surprised when she found out her name was Cheryl; pictured on October 24 in Santa Monica

After learning her name was wrong on the birth certificate, Cher said she asked her mother about it. The singer recalled her mother telling her, “I was just a teenager and in a lot of pain. Give me a break’; pictured January 1986 in portrait

“It’s better for me than people wondering if they should call me Mrs. Allman or Mrs. Bono or Mrs. Bono Allman or Miss Cher or whatever.”

She added: I mean, Cher is doing just fine. Just Cher.”

Elsewhere in her memoir, Cher also made other revelations, including being the only celebrity to break up with her.

She also opened up about why she decided to divorce her ex, Gregg Allman, after just nine days of marriage.